Lilium: A Novel
by mastesargent
Summary: A novelization of the 2005 anime. I claim no ownership of the story or characters, blah, blah, blah. Painstakingly transcribed from the English dub of the anime. Rated M for gratuitous gore, nudity, and violence, among other things. Given that you're in this archive, you should know the anime's story, so further description shouldn't be necessary.
1. Prologue

**Well, I hope you don't mind me barging in on this archive unannounced. Oh, but where are my manners? Hello, mastesargent here, fledging writer with an expertise in novelizations. I was taking a stroll down anime lane when I took note that Elfen Lied would translate wonderfully into writing. To my delight, I only found one novelization, and that was of the manga!**

**So, here I am, writing my own take on Elfen Lied. I could drone on and on for pages, but I'll just get to the point.**

**I apologize in advance if I screw up majorly. I'm not the world's biggest otaku, if I could even be considered one.**

Prologue

Flucht

An arm lay in a pool of its own blood, still warm, still twitching. Its former owner, a security guard, stood nearby, but his attention was not presently focused on his severed limb, but on the figure responsible for the parting. There, in front of him, was what he had been told was a young woman, though he couldn't tell if he tried. 'She' was strapped to an upright table, one across her legs, torso, and chest. Beneath that, a full body straightjacket. Covering 'her' head was a metal mask, leaving only enough open space for a tiny glimpse of hair. All of this was within a circular cage with a two meter radius, and now, so was the guard.

He'd gotten sloppy. He had dropped his cell phone into her cage, and when he reached in to retrieve it, something grabbed him, pulled him in, and sliced his arm like butter.

As he stared at his apparent attacker in disbelief, she suddenly turned her head towards him. His head exploded, sending blood and brain matter sailing about the room.

_Lilium_

Inside the facility's security room, every guard lay dead. Only one man remained alive, watching the camera feeds intently; in particular, the feed showing the guard's body crumpling to the floor.

_Lilium_

Inside the cell, the guard's shift mate looked on in horror as his late partner's key ring seemed to float up and towards the woman of its own accord.

"No!" he cried out, realizing what was happening. He snatched his revolver from its holster and unloaded. Outside, behind thick steel doors, six shots reverberated through the walls, and then, silence.

Unharmed, the floating keys unlocked the straps over the woman's body, sending her to the floor. The solid steel bars that surrounded her bent and contorted.

_Lilium_

Within the security room, the figure pressed a button, opening the cell's partitions.

_Lilium_

The security partitions opened, lighting up the dimly lit room. Around the remains of the cage, the headless bodies of the guards lay motionless. Beside the now lopsided table were the torn remains of the staightjacket.

The woman stood naked, save for the metal mask. In her hand, she held the head of the guard that attempted to shoot her. After examining it briefly, she dropped it. It hit the floor with a sickening _squish_.

She began to walk towards the opening door, the first step to freedom. As she did so, she began to sing. It was a song that filled her memory, that had been in the front of her mind since she had first heard it. Though she had never learned the lyrics, she remembered the tune perfectly. She recalled the title of the song as _Lilium_.

_Lilium_

Elsewhere in the facility, in a break room, three oblivious women were engaged in conversation.

"I don't envy you, Kisaragi. Being Chief Kurama's secretary must be murder!" said the first woman.

"Yeah?" asked Kisaragi, who was filling a cup of tea for her boss, Chief Kurama. "What makes you think that?"

"I can tell by the way he looks at me," replied the first woman. "That guy is scary."

"No, he's really nice, when you get to know him," defended Kisaragi. Her usually cheerful face took on a solemn look. "You know, anybody would look scary if… they had to put up with my mistakes." Her face returned to its cheerful self. "But today, I'm going to get it right!"

_Lilium_

Alarms had begun to sound throughout the facility. _"This is an emergency alert!"_ called a voice over the intercom. _"The underground research block will be sealed in sixty seconds. All staff, evacuate immediately. I repeat, this is an emergency alert. The underground research block will be sealed in sixty seconds. All staff, evacuate immediately."_

Inside the armory, guards armed themselves with submachine guns, loaded them, and set their firing mode to automatic. Elsewhere, Kisaragi stumbled about, desperately trying to balance Kurama's cup of tea on a tray.

_Lilium_

Deeper inside the facility, a guard's head was violently ripped off, sending a fountain of blood into the air. The other three members of his squad backed away from the woman, who had apparently never touched their fallen comrade, but continued her slow advance, all the same.

"Stay calm," ordered the senior guard. "The manual says she can't hurt us from more than two meters away."

"Yeah, but didn't it say to keep objects away from her, too?" asked one of the junior guards.

As he was saying this, a pen pulled itself from the dead guard's pocket, momentarily hovered at the woman's eye level and shot itself into the center guard's forehead. Then, the junior guard's arms were ripped off, and moments later he was torn in half.

The senior officer, who watched this in horror, only had time to turn back to the woman before his head was severed by the same unseen force that took his squad mates.

At the top of a flight of stairs, several guards let loose a hail of bullets. They met the same gruesome end as their comrades, as one of their torsos went flying into the wall behind him, leaving a trail of blood. There was an explosion of blood, and then two legs came to rest near the torso. One guard attempted to run, only to be sliced in half after a few steps. The guard who lost his legs however, still lived, and he dragged himself to the top of the stairs. The woman, despite her slow, almost calm pace, caught up. Blood erupted into the air.

At the end of the hallway, a group of four guards unloaded at the woman's advance. None of their bullets fared better that the groups before, and they quickly ran out of ammunition. As they stopped to reload, three were killed almost instantly. The fourth was knocked against a wall, shortly before his head slid off.

The elevator the guards died for ascended, and the doors slid apart, revealing the woman sitting in the back, arms around her legs. The guards outside of the elevator filled the area around her with lead, clouding the air with smoke and dust. When the haze cleared, the back wall of the elevator was riddled with bullet holes. The woman, however, was unscathed, and all of the bullets that would have hit their marks hovered in midair a meter in front of her, before falling uselessly to the ground.

The guards, stunned at what they had seen, did nothing as the woman stood herself up and resumed her slow march. Coming to their senses, they unloaded the remainder of their magazines, but to no avail. One, two, three guards were horribly decapitated or ripped in half, and one ran for the sealed steel door at the end of the hallway. He threw himself uselessly against the door, then ran for the lever on the wall, but tripped. Backing away from the woman's advance, he soon found himself in the corner. The woman approached him, and knelt beside him, arms around her legs. The guard felt something tighten around him, and his end was marked by a sickening _crunch_.

On the wall above them, a bloody handprint appeared, worked its way down to the lever, and pulled. The door opened.

There, standing between her and the exit, stood a serious looking, bespectacled man. This was Chief Kurama, the man in charge of the facility. On either side of him was a compliment of at least fifteen guards. Both parties simply stood there, staring each other down.

It was then that Kisaragi stumbled in, tripping over herself and falling directly in front of the woman, contents of her tray spilling everywhere.

"Kisaragi!" Kurama called out, trying to warn her.

"Chief Kurama, I'm really sorry!" cried Kisaragi, not noticing the nude woman behind her. "I messed up again!"

"Kisaragi, run!"

"Hey," asked Kisaragi, noticing the armed guards. "What's going on?"

"Run away, go!" the Chief called out, but too late. Kisaragi turned and noticed the woman behind her.

"No, Lucy, don't do it!" shouted the Chief, to the woman this time. He tried to reach Kisaragi, but the guards held him back.

Kisaragi's head was pulled right off of her shoulders, still wearing the confused expression that it had worn in its last moments.

"OPEN FIRE!" screamed Kurama. The guards did so, but Kisaragi's body hovered in front of Lucy, taking every bullet. Lucy then hurled a pen straight through the head of the guard directly next to Kurama. The guards stopped their assault.

"Hurry, shoot her!" ordered Kurama.

"We're out of bullets," one of the guards replied. Kurama gritted his teeth in frustration.

Lucy returned to her slow march.

"I'll take this bitch!" exclaimed one of the guards, charging Lucy.

"Watch out!" warned Kurama, but he was again too late. A hole appeared in the guard's chest, and his still beating heart landed on one of his comrades.

Lucy continued her march, killing all of the guards that didn't flee, but altogether ignoring Kurama. He could only watch as she walked on past him, but what felt like a hand pressed itself against the back of his suit, leaving a bloody handprint.

"She's on her way to the emergency exit!" said Kurama through his radio. "Bring the partition down _and keep her locked in_!"

_Lilium_

As Lucy walked on to the exit, a steel door lowered in place behind her. The figure in the security room pressed another button. As she was using he abilities to attempt to bash in the door, the external partition opened, and she felt fresh air for the first time in years. Beyond, there was a sheer cliff, and beyond that, the ocean.

_Lilium_

"The outer partition has been opened!?" exclaimed Kurama, who received word through his radio. "That can't be right!" The voice on the other side began to protest. "Don't give me excuses!" the Chief cut off. "Just send a sharpshooter!"

In an office overlooking the emergency exit, a guard stared down the barrel of his sniper rifle. After a moment of searching, he found his target, who was walking intently towards the cliff.

"Make this bullet count," said Chief Kurama, who was standing next to him. "She isn't going to give you a second shot."

"This is a .50 caliber antitank rifle," replied the sniper cooly. "Strong as her vectors are, there's no way she can stop a round from this rifle."

"The back of her head," Kurama ordered.

"Copy."

The sniper took aim, squeezed the trigger, but at the last moment, Lucy turned her head.

_BANG_!

The rifle went off, and the bullet made contact, but instead of her head exploding, the metal mask came apart, revealing a mane of pink hair, and even stranger, a pair of ear-like horns protruding from her skull. The bullet itself merely grazed her, knocking her unconscious.

"God, damn it, she's still alive!" said Kurama in surprise. But there was nothing he could do, as Lucy was sent off of the edge of the cliff, and into the ocean below.

She was gone.

**Alright, so there's the first seven and a half minutes of the anime… and it took me about three hours to transcribe it directly from the screen. Anyhow, I'll leave you guys with this prologue. One more thing before I go. If you know where I can find some detailed plot summaries of each episode, or even the scripts, that would go a long way in helping me. If you guys know anything, just leave them in your reviews.**

**I'll release my next chapter… eventually. **


	2. Chapter 1

**Just for reference, I'm writing this just after I wrote the prologue, but I've learned to space out my content. So, look at this as a window to the past. I've got nothing for this intro, so I'll see you on the other side!**

Chapter One

Begegnung

It was a beautiful spring day in Kamakura, Japan. The sun was shining, the cherry blossoms were blowing in the breeze, and several streams could be heard babbling and meandering their way down to the ocean.

At Gokurakuji Station, a young woman stood waiting. Not for a train, but someone that a train should be delivering. She checked her watch. Four-thirty. If it was correct, then he should have arrived some time ago. She must have missed him. She set out, with a good idea of where he might be.

She caught up to him at a flight of stairs, and her heart skipped a beat. There was no mistaking him, even after all those years.

He must have heard her coming, as he turned around when she was a few meters away.

"You're Kouta, aren't you?" she asked.

"What?" asked Kouta, confused. "Um… well…"

'_Doesn't he remember me?'_ she thought to herself. "I'm Yuka," she explained. "Your cousin."

"Oh!" said Kouta, half recognizing her. "You're Yuka?"

"Wow…" she sighed, and then trotted up the stairs. "I missed you at the station," she continued, "I've been looking all over!"

"Really?" asked Kouta. "Sorry." He thought for a moment. "But how did you figure out that I'd be here?" he asked.

"You used to like to watch the ocean from up here, right?" Yuka replied. "I remembered."

"The view looks the same," remembered Kouta looking down at the water. "It hasn't changed since we were kids."

"And now we're going to the same college, who'd have guessed!" commented Yuka. She started back down the stairs. "We've come this far already," she said, grabbing Kouta's arm. "Let's go see the ocean!"

"H- hey!" cried Kouta in surprise. "What're you doing?"

"Come on!" said Yuka, dragging him along. "We used to go there all the time!"

_Lilium_

When the couple arrived at the beach, Yuigahama, they stood together in silence. Kouta was trying staring at the water, trying to remember something important about the last time he was there, but he couldn't recall.

"Remember when we used to play here?" asked Yuka.

"Yeah," replied Kouta, a hint of sadness in his voice. "The three of us. You, me, and Kanae."

"Little Kanae…" Yuka reminisced.

"The last day…" said Kouta sadly. "She was here, collecting seashells." He crouched down, remembering what he could about that day.

_Lilium_

"_Kouta, look!" cried an excited Kanae. She held out her hands, showing a half-dozen small seashells. "I found a ton of pretty seashells! Look, aren't they great?"_

"_They don't look so pretty to me!" said Kouta bluntly. He had been talking to Yuka about something before he was so rudely interrupted. Besides, they didn't look _that _great._

_Kanae shook her head angrily, and went off to look for more shells._

_Lilium_

Kouta was still staring at the sand when Yuka saw her. "Kouta," she said, not taking her eyes off of the figure in front of her.

"What?"

"Take a look over there."

Kouta followed Yuka's gaze to the strangest thing he'd ever seen. His eyes widened in surprise and he stood up, rather shocked.

There, standing ankle deep in the water, was a young woman, who looked to be about their age. She had long pink hair that went down to her waist, and was entirely nude. She looked to be bleeding from a wound somewhere on her head. The sight made him slightly dizzy for some reason.

"What's… going on?" managed Kouta.

Your guess is as good as mine" replied Yuka.

The girl put her hands to her face, apparently in a daze. Then, as if suddenly aware of her surroundings, her head jumped up.

"Nyuu?"

Kouta and Yuka looked on in bewilderment.

"Excuse me?" asked Kouta.

The girl looked at them in surprise. She had red eyes. She tried to run away, but she tripped over her own legs and face planted in the sand. Then she began to cry.

Yuka began to push Kouta away.

"Hey!" protested Kouta.

"Kouta, take your clothes off, right now!" ordered Yuka.

"What?"

"Just take off your clothes!"

"Uh…"

_Lilium_

As it turned out, Kouta only had to take off his shirt. Luckily, he had a t-shirt underneath, so he didn't have to lose all of his dignity.

"It sure doesn't seem like she understands what we're saying," Kouta called to Yuka, who had made him stand at a distance, and facing the opposite direction. It was true though. The girl didn't seem to speak Japanese, or any other language, for that matter.

"Hey, look at this," said Yuka, who had the closest look at her so far. "I think she's hurt!"

Kouta walked over for a better look. There seemed to be something on her head.

"This headband makes it look like she has horns," Yuka pointed out. She gave the horns a poke. "No, wait, those are sticking out of her head!"

Suddenly, Kouta felt a pain coming from the back of his head. An image swam to the surface of his mind.

_A girl with horns, standing there, mesmerized by—_

"Kouta!" came Yuka's voice from somewhere far off. "Kouta! Hey, Kouta, I'm talking to you!"

Kouta snapped out of it. "What?" he asked Yuka. "What is it?"

"I've been trying to tell you that I think we should take her to your place," suggested Yuka, sounding concerned.

"What do you mean, my place?" Kouta asked. He didn't live in Kamakura.

"The place you're moving in to," Yuka reminded him. "Because we can't leave her like this!"

It was true. You couldn't just leave a girl alone in Kamakura with nothing but a man's button-up shirt to cover her. On top of that, she seemed almost like a child.

"Uh, yeah, "Kouta agreed, not fully knowing what he was getting into.

"It's alright," Yuka assured the girl. "You're safe now."

Kouta only stared at her. The pain had disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and the image had vanished from memory. _'But why can't I shake off this funny feeling?' _Kouta wondered to himself.

_Lilium_

Kamakura was a very old town, like many cities in the Kanagawa Prefecture. There were dozens of Shinto shrines and other ancient structures. Kouta's new home seemed to be right in the middle of it all, as there was a graveyard, and old Shinto shrine, and other sites nearby, not to mention the design of the house itself.

The girl that they had found seemed fascinated by all of this, and was mesmerized by the slowly drifting cherry blossoms, as when one landed on her shoulder, she looked at it with a curious "Nyuu?"

"You guys were going to rent me a house," said Kouta, amazed by the size of the place. There were at least three wings to the house, plus an outer wall. He was surprised that they were even able to afford the place. "Is this it?"

"It was a traditional Japanese restaurant," Yuka explained. "But they went out of business a while ago. My mom says as long as you clean the house every day you don't have to pay rent."

"But, uh…" Kouta began.

"What's up?"

"How many rooms does this house have?"

"Let's see… Ten, if I remember correctly."

"And I'm supposed to clean them all?" asked Kouta, feeling overwhelmed. "Without any help?"

"And the garden," Yuka added.

"Wait. So, basically I'm supposed to be a free caretaker?" Kouta dropped his head and sighed in disbelief.

"Well, people always say that there's nothing worse for a building than being neglected!" said Yuka cheerfully.

Presently, the girl was still admiring the cherry blossoms, oblivious to Yuka and Kouta's discussion. One landed on her nose, to which she gave another "Nyuu?"

The group entered the house, which was as impressive on the inside as it was outside.

"Home sweet home," muttered Kouta as he removed his shoes. As he followed Yuka through the foyer and into the hall, he noticed an old grandfather clock.

"Wow!" he exclaimed. "This thing has to be an antique!"

"It doesn't work," Yuka called from another room. "Even when you wind it. I'm pretty sure it's broken."

"Too bad…" he mused.

Behind him, the girl had been pacing nervously, and presently broke into a run

"Kouta," said Yuka, exiting a room in the hallway. "You should sleep in here until you're all set up."

"Okay."

The girl ran up to Yuka and gave a worried "Nyuu!"

"What's wrong?" Yuka asked, having no way to understand what she wanted.

"Nyuu!" she cried out again, standing bow-legged.

"What?" asked Yuka again. The girl seemed to be worried about something. "Well… uh… I don't know what to do," Yuka said at last. "And I don't even know what her name is."

"All she says is 'Nyuu, nyuu.' Nyuu seems like a good name," Kouta suggested.

"What?" said Yuka, amazed at her cousin's lack of creativity.

The girl, however, who had sat down bow-legged, gave a satisfied "Nyuu" and smiled.

"Look," said Kouta, seeing her face. "I think she likes it!"

"Yeah, you think so?" asked Yuka.

Nyuu's expression, however, changed.

"What's the matter?" asked Yuka, though the answer suddenly became clear. Where Nyuu was sitting, a puddle of liquid had emerged. Yuka instinctively stepped away.

_Lilium_

Kouta had been left to deal with Nyuu's 'accident', as Yuka had dubbed it, while she took her so get cleaned up.

"You really should know better than to pee in places like that," said Yuka, who poured water down Nyuu's back.

"Nyuu!"

Once they had finished in the bath, the two came out to find Kouta finishing up cleaning Nyuu's 'accident'.

"Sorry to leave you with the mess," apologized Yuka, who had dressed Nyuu in a tank top and a pair of underwear.

"It's alright, but you didn't have to give her my underwear," replied Kouta.

"What else was she supposed to wear?" asked Yuka, referring to Nyuu, who had pulled back her tank top to examine one of her breasts, which she had noticed in the bath. "I'll buy her some new clothes later."

"Are you hungry?" she asked, changing the subject. "I brought rice balls, and I've got plenty to share!"

_Lilium_

The three of them sat around the dining room table. Yuka and Kouta were eating their rice balls in silence, but Nyuu simply stared at one, perplexed.

"Would you like some, too?" asked Yuka, after several minutes of what seemed like Nyuu attempting to pick it up with her mind.

"Nyuu?" she replied. She tentatively picked one up and unwrapped it.

"Hey," whispered Yuka to Kouta. "Where do you think she came from? What was she doing there?"

"Uh…" Kouta began, and looked over a Nyuu. "Oh, no!" Nyuu was stuffing her face, and what rice didn't end up on her face fell to the table. "You've never had rice balls?" he said calmly, clearing away the mess. "You hold them like this," he demonstrated the proper way of handling a rice ball. Nyuu watched intently, and then opened her mouth.

"You're hopeless," resigned Kouta, and offered his rice ball. Nyuu took a large bite. "Look, you got it all over your face," he said, wiping away the excess rice from her face with his finger. Nyuu laughed, to which Kouta couldn't help but smile. Yuka tapped her finger impatiently.

_Lilium_

Just off Kamakura's Yuigahama shore, there was a tiny island, and on this island was the very facility that Lucy escaped from the previous night.

Chief Kurama and his assistant, Shirakawa, were examining the mangled remains of Lucy's cage. Though the guards' remains had been since carted off, their blood still remained on the scene. The stuff was everywhere; the floor, the remains of the cage, and the bed.

"The cage, the partitions, five locks, and a security system," Shirakawa listed, making notes on her clipboard. "Everything was perfect. The cause of the shutter system anomaly has yet been determined."

"In time, we'll sort it out, "said Kurama. "Right now the priority is finding Lucy and killing her."

"You said kill," inquired Shirakawa. "Not capture?"

"The Special Assault Team has been assembled," answered Kurama. "If we don't stop Lucy, the blood of mankind is on our hands."

_Lilium_

On top of being a research facility, the complex also housed a unit of the SAT, and several armories and training grounds. In one of these training facilities, an elite soldier named Bando was running a virtual reality course. This particular course pitched him against multiple 'hostiles' at once, while adding one or two 'noncombatants' into the fray. The VR interface on his head read his brainwaves and laid out the suggested targeting solution, which he carried out with extreme prejudice.

"That's incredible!" said one of Kurama's aides, who was watching from an observation room. "He locked on to all four targets simultaneously!"

"It would take a monster to beat Bando one-on-one," agreed the man running the simulation.

"A monster, huh?" The lights in the simulation room shut off.

"I could do without his personality quirks," replied the programmer. Bando eliminated another group of hostiles, leaving only their 'hostage' standing. Another, much larger group appeared, with hostile and noncombatants thrown into the fray. Bando eliminated both with no distinction. "Damn it, Bando!" the programmer called over the intercom. "Stop screwing around!"

"Shit," muttered Bando, who removed his VR helmet and dropped it to the ground, revealing a man with brown hair and chiseled features. "What's the point of shooting at targets if they don't scream or bleed?" he shouted back. "It's getting old! I'm ready for real people!"

"You bastard!" the programmer shouted back.

"I understand," Kurama's aide muttered.

Bando entered the observation room, scratching his scalp. "This is ridiculous," he grumbled. "I'm done with this shit." He leaned against some railing.

"A murderer escaped from the detainment facility this morning," the programmer explained. Bando turned his head, suddenly interested.

"I want you to find her, immediately," the aide continued. "And shoot her on sight."

"Kill her?" Bando asked. "And I don't have to give her any warning?" The aide gave no response. Bando broke out in laughter. "Just go out and cap her, huh?" he laughed.

"Mr. Bando?" began an attendant, walking up behind him. He swung around and delivered a punch to her face in the blink of an eye, knocking her to the floor. The other men in the room stood up in surprise.

"Never sneak up behind me," Bando explained calmly. "Stupid bitch." And with that, he left the room.

"He's perfect," the aide muttered.

_Lilium_

Night had fallen over Kamakura, and with it, a heavy rain.

Inside the house, Kouta was unpacking his backpack, which was the only thing that he hadn't had delivered to the house. Nyuu watched, curious as to the contents of the pack.

"I gave the place a once-over," said Yuka, entering the dining room with a dry mop.

"Oh, thank you," said Kouta, and continued rummaging through his pack.

"It was a one-time only special favor," explained Yuka. "From now on you're going to have to—"

"Yeah, yeah. I know," answered Kouta, still rummaging.

Nyuu gave a soft "Nyuu", making him aware of her presence.

"And her?" Kouta asked. "She really can't stay here." He wasn't exactly comfortable with having a total stranger alone with him, though she had grown on him.

"Maybe we should have called the police in the first place," said Yuka, half regretting not thinking of it sooner.

"Maybe so," agreed Kouta.

As they were talking, Nyuu pulled a tiny box from Kouta's pack, which fell to the floor, revealing a pink seashell.

"Oops," said Kouta, picking up the tiny thing.

"Is that… from the last time we went to the beach?" asked Yuka. Kouta nodded, staring at the seashell.

_Lilium_

"_Look, Kouta!" said Kanae, covered in sand, but holding up a perfect, pink seashell._

"_It's pretty!" said Yuka, leaning in for a better look._

"_It really is," agreed Kouta, who did likewise. "I can't believe you found something nice," he teased Kanae. Kanae giggled._

"_And…?" she said, waiting for Kouta's praise._

"_Fine," resigned Kouta, patting her on the head. "You did a good job."_

"_That settles it!" chimed Kanae. "It's going to be your present!" She handed Kouta the shell._

_Behind them, the sun was setting behind a mountain. Kouta was telling Yuka something about it, but he had since forgotten._

_Lilium_

"It wasn't long after," Kouta reminisced sadly. "That she got sick and died."

"She was sick?" asked Yuka. That wasn't the story that she had heard. "Is that what you said?"

"This is like a memento of my sister," Kouta went on. "And since I've come back here again, it just made sense to bring it.

"Kouta…"

It was then that Nyuu rose to her knees. She took the shell from Kouta, examinitng the smooth surface. "What is it?" Kouta asked. Nyuu, looked at the shell, a puzzled look on her face. Then, she took it in both hands, and snapped it in two.

Gasping in horror, Kouta stood up and grabbed Nyuu by her shirt. "What are you doing?" he shouted, furious. "I said it was a memento of my sister, didn't I?" He shook her back and forth. "What were you thinking?"

"Kouta, stop it!" Yuka shouted, pushing Kouta off of Nyuu.

"Was that supposed to be some kind of a joke, huh?" Kouta continued.

"Calm down!" Yuka continued, still pushing at her cousin. "She must have thought the shell—"

"You know what?" Kouta screamed at Nyuu, ignoring Yuka. "Just get out of here! You heard me, go!"

Nyuu, who had dropped back to her knees, looked back down at the two halves of the sell, her eyes brimming with tears.

"What are you saying?" said Yuka, shocked at her cousin's rage.

"I'm saying get out! This isn't funny!"

"You have to calm down!"

At that point, Nyuu dropped the pieces of the seashell, ran out of the dining room, through the hallway, out the front door, and vanished into the rain. Yuka stood in the doorway, looking off at the way Nyuu had gone.

"What the hell was she thinking?" fumed Kouta, staring at the pieces of the shell.

"I think…" Yuka began. "She understood. She knew the seashell made you sad."

"Huh?" Kouta hadn't even considered that.

"Wherever Kanae is," Yuka continued. "I don't think she'd be happy to see you like this. Her memory ought to be worth more to you than just bitterness. There was nothing bitter about how she lived." Kouta bowed his head, and sat in silence. "I'm going to go look for Nyuu," Yuka decided. "We can't leave her alone, it's miserable out." With that, she walked down the hall, towards the foyer, leaving Kouta and the seashell.

_Lilium_

A twin-rotor helicopter flew over the water, through the torrential downpour, carrying a company of SAT troops.

"_We'll be above Kamakura soon," _said the pilot over the comm.

"Never thought I'd see the day that his country would let me terminate a minor," said Bando, who was sitting calmly in a corner. He leaned the soldier across from him. "Hey, things are lookin' up in the world."

"Stop talking, jerk!" the soldier snapped back. "I happen to take our mission seriously!"

Bando pulled out his sidearm and put it to the soldier's throat, shutting him up. The other soldier stood up in shock. "Every day, all this training, what does it add up to, huh?" he asked the soldier. "_Killing people_." He answered his own question. "Right?" He pulled the trigger, and the soldier flinched, but the weapon was empty. "That serious enough for you?" Bando asked, leaning back.

"When you're done playing grab-ass," said the commanding officer, stepping out of the cockpit. "You guys lock and load." The officer began the briefing. "Your target killed twenty-three people in five minutes," he explained. "She's vicious."

_Lilium_

Nyuu stood on the beach, silently crying in the rain. Inside, both of her were sad and confused. How had she hurt Kouta, if she took away what made him so sad? Nyuu never wanted to hurt Kouta. The shell made him sad, so she broke the shell, hoping it would make him happy. Why did he react the way he did? Tears continued to stream down her cheeks.

**I'll admit, this is a fairly new experience for me. I'm not entirely used to writing something this slow for this long. Still I'm pretty sure this turned out well. I hope you guys think the same.**

**PS. As I'm posting this, about a week after I wrote the prologue, I've noticed a significant lack in the reviews section. C'mon, guys, I need some feedback here.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Do you guys know the meaning of having nothing to do? 'Cause I do. Let's just say I've been… busy as of late. It's not like I've watched the entirety of Fullmetal Alchemist, the sequel film to Fullmetal Alchemist, started watching Kaze no Stigma, read the entirety of Elfen Lied, Highschool of the Dead, and about half of Rosario + Vampire. Nothing like that. Did I mention I'm slowly going insane? Oh, and my grip on reality is beginning to slip. But I'm fine, really.**

**God, I need a hobby.**

**By the way, I think I'll start telling you guys the tale of the events that led to me writing this fic.**

Chapter 2

Vernichtung

Along the Yuigahama shore was a maze of old crates, boats, and sheds, which were in turn surrounded by a flimsy netted fence. In one of these sheds, a young girl took shelter from the increasingly heavy downpour, wearing little more than a pair of shoes and a sweater that barely managed to cover her extremities. Wrapped in her arms, she held a small dog, who she had found along the beach, just as homeless as she was.

"I guess we're both hungry, huh?" she said to her companion, who gave a small whine in response.

In the distance, she could hear a helicopter approaching. She looked around, curious, as this one sounded much bigger than the commercial ones that flew by from time to time.

_Lilium_

Inside the helicopter, the officer continued his briefing. "Listen up! Our target had an unidentified weapon with a two meter effective lethal range."

"Unidentified," mused Bando. "Meaning what?"

"The specifics are unknown," the officer replied.

"Right…" Bando folded his arms behind his head, already bored by the briefing.

"The police have already scrambled" the officer continued. "They're searching the city now. Once we receive her location we'll immediately head to the site."

As the officer was saying this, Bando gave out a loud yawn, got up, and headed towards the back of the chopper.

"Bando!" shouted the officer.

"Later, Chief," Bando replied nonchalantly. He pulled a lever, and the troop bay hatch slid down. Wind and rain filled the hold.

"What are you doing?" the officer shouted over the wind.

"If this target is so dangerous we can shoot without warning, well, then, I guess its hunt, or be hunted. I know how it goes. Drop me off already."

_Lilium_

Nyuu knelt at the water's edge at Yuigahama, digging furiously through the sand with her bare hands. Every so often, a freezing wave would wash over her, soaking her further and erasing her progress. She looked up hopelessly.

_Lilium_

Kouta sat at the table, still staring at the pieces of the seashell. He got up and checked the old clock in the hall. Five minutes and twenty-one seconds past six. After a few seconds he realized the second hand wasn't moving. "Oh," he muttered to himself, remembering that the clock was broken. "That's right."

"_I think," Yuka had said. "She understood. She knew the seashell made you sad."_

Kouta sighed.

There was a knock at the door. "Hey, quit fooling around!" he said, running up to the door. "Come on! You know it's not locked!" He slid the door open, but neither Yuka nor Nyuu were standing there. Instead, two middle aged men stood in the doorway.

"For some reason, I always thought this place was vacant," said the shorter of the two. The taller one poked his head and looked around.

"Yeah, I, uh… moved in here today," Kouta replied. "Can I help you?"

"We're the police," said the taller one, pulling his head away and showing his badge.

"If you'll cooperate for a minute, we need your help with an investigation," said the shorter one.

"Why's that?" asked Kouta. "Did something happen."

The shorter officer took out a picture and showed it to Kouta. "You seen a girl around?" he asked. "She looks like this."

Kouta gasped in surprise. It was a picture of Nyuu, but she looked… different somehow. "Why do you ask?" said Kouta, looking back to the officers. "Did she do something wrong?"

"Hey! Why don't you leave the questioning to us?" snapped the taller officer. "So have you seen her, or haven't you?"

"It's alright," the shorter officer told his partner. He addressed Kouta. "She's just a missing person, after all."

"Missing… person?" Kouta asked. Something about the whole thing stank.

"I don't know her," he said after considering the picture a moment longer.

"I see," replied the shorter officer. "If you happen to run into her, would you please contact the police?" He put the picture back in his pocket. "Thanks for your help." He turned around and began to walk away. "Let's go," he told his partner.

After he was sure they were gone, Kouta grabbed an umbrella from the corner and ran outside, sliding the door shut behind him. About halfway to the gate, he paused. "Should I lock the door?" he wondered. Then he realized that Yuka had taken the keys, so he went on his way.

_Lilium_

"This is Sato from Bando team," said Bando's partner, Sato checked in over the radio. "We've arrived at Yuigahama. We're continuing the search." He clicked off the radio. "We've only been authorized to search the coastlines," he reminded Bando, who walked silently in front of him, scanning the coast. "We're supposed to stay away from populated areas."

"That's up to our enemy," Bando replied gruffly. As he looked around, he couldn't help but notice obscene amounts of litter on the beach.

"They said that she uses some kind of special weapon," Sato went on. "But what do you think it is? How am I supposed to defend myself if it's a weapon we don't know anything about?"

"Shut up!" barked Bando, spinning about. "Would it kill you to shut your damn mouth?" He pointed his weapon, a silenced MP5 with an under-mounted grenade launcher, at Sato. "If you don't quit whining, you'll be the first casualty."

Sato began to protest, but he saw something behind his partner. "Uh, Bando?" he said, indicating what he saw. Bando turned about and let out an excited laugh. "Bingo," he muttered, licking his lips.

_Lilium_

After all of her digging and being soaked by the sea, Nyuu finally found what she had come for. She closed her eyes, thinking about how happy it would make Kouta. She turned around. Someone was coming.

_Lilium_

In the downtown area of Kamakura, Yuka approached a police station. Inside, conversing with the officer at the front desk, were two other officers, a teller one and a shorter one. "Excuse me?" she asked them. "Can you help me? I'm looking for a friend of mine who's lost." The two officers looked to Yuka, and then to each other.

_Lilium_

Nyuu looked up at the figure standing over her.

"What are you doing out here?" asked Kouta, crouching down with the umbrella. "It's pouring rain. Oh, man."

Nyuu began to tremble, and brought her hands up to her chin.

"You're shivering," remarked Kouta, feeling her hand. It was cold and soaking wet. Nyuu began to softly cry. "We can't fix things here," said Kouta. "Let's go."

"Nyuu?"

"Come on. Get up," he said, taking hold of her hand and standing up. Before he managed to, however, the butt of a gun impacted with the base of his neck, and he crumpled back to the ground.

"Nyuu!" Nyuu cried. "Nyuu!"

"Woah, horns, just like they said!" said Bando, crouching down next to her. "She's got 'em growing out of her skull!"

"You probably shouldn't get too close," advised Sato, who stood a small distance away.

"I told you already to shut up!" snapped Bando.

"What?" said Kouta, recovering from the impact. "Hey, who are you guys?" He found himself staring down the barrel of Bando's submachine gun.

"Let's see, they gave us the green light to kill any witnesses, right Sato?" asked Bando.

"Uh… no. Those weren't the orders!" Sato replied. "We'd have to call HQ."

"What? Kill?" Kouta asked, beginning to panic. "What do you mean, kill?"

"Isn't it obvious, dumbass?" said Bando, keeping his weapon trained on Kouta. "The word 'kill'. Means I pull the trigger, the gun goes off, and your brains splatter all over the sand. The beach gets bloody and you get dead."

Suddenly, Kouta pushed the gun from his face and began to flee. "Nyuu, run!" he said, pulling Nyuu behind him.

With one arm, band leveled his SMG and fired. Kouta and Nyuu froze in place, a line of bullet holes centimeters from their feet. "I'm on a hunt!" Bando explained. "And your girlfriend's my prey!"

Kouta spun around, putting himself between Bando and Nyuu. Bando laughed sadistically as he approached them. "Now get outta my way!" he said, and knocked Kouta aside. Kouta hit the sand, unconscious. Nyuu knelt at his side. "Nyuu! Nyuu!" she said, trying to wake him.

"Well, well," said Bando, turning his gun to Nyuu. "This has been a little too easy. Let's make it fun! How about it?"

_Lilium_

"Missing?" asked the desk officer, who had come out to take Yuka's case. "How old is she?"

"Um, well…" Yuka began.

"Yes… Right… Understood," she heard one of the officers inside say over the phone.

'_Understood,'_ Yuka thought.

_Nyuu took the seashell in both hands and snapped it in two._

"Oh, yeah!" Yuka realized. Nyuu would have gone to the beach. "Never mind! I think I just figured out where she is! Sorry for bothering you." With that, she left the station, heading in the direction of Yuigahama.

_Lilium_

"Sorry," said the desk officer, returning his attention the two officers inside. "You were telling me something before I stepped out?"

"No, that's alright," said the shorter of the two. "We're just having a little trouble with a missing person."

"The Special Assault Teams are searching the coastline without out approval," the taller one muttered to his partner. "Those SAT jerks! What in the hell could they be thinking?"

"I hope they're at least keeping a low profile," the shorter one whispered. As the two walked out, he addressed the desk officer. "Well, then, we're counting on you!"

"Yes, sir!"

After the two had left, the desk officer returned to his post. Lying on the desk was the arrest warrant for the 'missing person', an odd-looking young woman with pink hair and something that looked like horns on her head. "A vicious murderer," the desk officer mused. "And she looks like that!"

_Lilium_

Yuka walked along the raised sidewalk that ran along Yuigahama, periodically stopping to scan the beach. On one of these stops, she saw what looked like a person crumpled in the sand. It was Kouta. "Kouta" she cried out, running down a boat ramp and dropping her umbrella. "Kouta! Are you alright?" Kouta came to, gasping in pain. "Kouta, what happened?" Yuka asked worriedly. She stood up, "I'll go call an ambulance!"

"Nyuu?" he gasped. "Where's Nyuu?" And then he slipped back into unconsciousness.

"Kouta!" cried Yuka, running back to his side. "You'll be okay! Kouta!

_Lilium_

Bando heard an ambulance in the distance. Probably picking that idiot kid. He lamented that he couldn't kill him, but it didn't matter anyways, as he dragged the horned girl behind him by her leg. What had the kid called her? Nyuu? Stupid name.

"Is this the right girl?" asked Sato, confused by the lack of resistance. "She isn't acting like any killer I know." Bando ignored him, and kept dragging Nyuu along with him. "Bando!"

"Yeah?" Bando responded. "And how many other girls do you know with horns sticking outta their head?"

"Sure, but…" Sato clicked on the radio. "This is Bando team, over. We've apprehended female matching the suspect's description. "We're located at Yuigahama—" Sato was cut short when Bando butted him with his weapon, knocking him to the ground, and crushed the radio under his foot.

"Don't try to undermine me!" he warned. "I'm just having a little fun here." He took a look at his surroundings. They were surrounded on all sides by beached boats, crated, a net fence, and other debris. Nobody would see unless they were looking for them. "I hear you're a big-time badass, right?" he asked, grabbing Nyuu by the hair and putting his gun in her face. "Show me what you got! Let's rock and roll!"

"Nyuu!" Nyuu shook loose of Bando's grip and fell back. Kouta's umbrella, which she had been holding until then, was caught by the wind and carried further down the beach, where it came to rest.

Bando delivered a kick to Nyuu's gut, knocking her further back. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He asked, lifting his faceplate. "So are you a killer or not? Put up a fight, come on!"

Nyuu didn't respond, and instead put her right hand behind her back hiding its contents.

"Hey, wait a second!" said Bando, noticing the motion. "What are you trying to hide? Show it to me!"

Nyuu still didn't respond, and tried to hide the contents of her hand like a guilty child hiding something from a parent.

"Hold on!" said Sato, who had recovered from Bando's punch. "What if it's her secret weapon?"

"You really are completely stupid!" Bando growled at Nyuu. "If you've got a secret weapon, you'd better use it, NOW!"

Nyuu scrambled over the boat behind her, but before she could make another move, Bando smacked her across the face with his weapon. She tried to grab the fence for support, but the flimsy material just tore beneath her weight, and she fell to the ground.

'_They'll pay…'_

"Man, what a letdown," said Bando, turning and walking away. He removed his helmet and facemask. "Sato, go ahead and shoot her."

"What?"

"I said, kill her. That's the mission, right?"

"But… sir?"

"Shoot her already. That's an order." Bando took out a pack of cigarettes and put on in his mouth.

"Yes, sir," Sato sighed.

Bando flicked his lighter. The damned thing wouldn't light. He kept trying.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," apologized Sato. "But I'm just carrying out my orders." Sato aimed of her head.

"Damn it," muttered Bando, he flicked the lighter one last time. It lit.

Sato pulled the trigger of his weapon. A muffled shot rang out. Blood splattered on the fence posts.

_Lilium_

Inside their shack, the girl's dog awoke to a strange noise. It let out a small whine.

_Lilium_

Shreds of netting softly floated back to the ground. Human blood ran down the fence posts. Sato stood in shock, a gaping hole in his torso. Bando turned and caught the spectacle. "What?"

"Bando!" gasped Sato, just before his right arm, grasping his MP5, fell to the ground, severed by the same force that then removed his head. Blood sprayed from both wounds.

From behind the boat, Nyuu slowly stood up. But it wasn't Nyuu. Nyuu was unconscious. In her place, Lucy had awoken.

Bando fired his weapon, spraying bullets at her, but all of them were deflected within two meters of her. The boat in front of her was crushed in half, much to Bando's disbelief. Lucy began to slowly walk towards him. Bando kept firing. "What the hell are you?" he screamed. All of his bullets were knocked away. "There's no way…!" said Bando, stunned.

Six invisible hands shot towards Bando. Though he couldn't see them, he felt them coming, and dodged in instant before they hit him. One of them crushed his discarded helmet, leaving its imprint. _'A hand!'_ Bando observed.

Lucy shot her vectors at Bando once bore, which he dodged. Instead, they impacted on the fence posts, crushing them. Bando dove into cover behind some oil drums. Lucy flung any loose object she could get her vectors on.

"Hah! You're just throwing blind until you hit me!" Bando said, patiently waiting behind the drums. "Throwing…?"

"_Listen up! Our target had an unidentified weapon with a two meter effective lethal range."_

He peeked over the drums; indeed, she was only picking up objects within a two meter radius of herself. "So that's it?" he said. "Two meter long invisible hands! Quite a weapon." Sato's body soared over the drums and impacted a few meters away.

A massive shape from above caught Bando's eye. A boat came crashing down on the oil drums, which he dodged just in time. One of the drums must have been full, as it ignited and exploded, sending debris everywhere. Lucy lifted another boat, a more modern motorboat. "You know, this is kinda fun!" exclaimed Bando, and fired his grenade launcher. The boat exploded in midair.

_Lilium_

The girl was roused from her slumber by a loud noise, and her dog's barking. "What's that?" she asked, looking in the direction of the commotion.

_Lilium_

Bando stole a glance over the boat ramp that he'd taken cover behind. There, a few meters away from Lucy, was Sato's corpse lying in a pool of its own blood. Still attached to his belt was a hand grenade. Bando laughed triumphantly. "Wow," he sighed, collapsing behind his cover. "This is just too cool."

Then, he waited, listening. Lucy came closer, closer, closer… there was the sound of o foot touching a pool of liquid. Bando sprang from cover. "Okay, you freak of nature, time to die!" He took aim at the grenade. "Huh?"

There, in Lucy's visible left hand, was Sato's silenced MP5 submachine gun.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Bando said sheepishly. "You're cheating!"

Lucy opened fire on him. Bando, though he was wearing body armor, was knocked off of his feet.

_Lilium_

In the distance, the girl heard gunshots. She turned in that direction, but decided it best not to investigate.

_Lilium_

Bando lay spread-eagle in the sand. Standing directly over his head was Lucy. Bando desperately searched for a way out.

"Dou you enjoy this?"

"Bitch!" growled Bando, lifting his MP5. His arm came off. Bando screamed in pain. Lucy looked on, indifferent.

"You bitch! You bitch! How dare you… cut my arm off?" He tried to reach for her. Bando was right, Lucy decided. She instead snapped the bone in half, leaving the arm otherwise intact. Bando screamed once more. "Just wait!" he growled through gritted teeth. "Just wait and see what happens! I won't forget you! I'll come find you!" Lucy brought one of her vector around, directly in front of Bando's eyes. Slowly, ever so slowly, she pushed them in, deeper and deeper, until there was hardly any eye left.

Bando began to flail about uselessly, screaming and cursing at her, one arm spraying blood, the other flapping uselessly. "Fun's over," said Lucy. Her vectors closed around his throat, and she began to strangle him. In his pitiful flailing, Bando's broken arm nudged her right hand; which Lucy suddenly noticed was holding something. Curious, she examined its contents.

Somehow, she was holding— Suddenly, Lucy felt as if her head had exploded. Grasping her head, she staggered away from Bando's body and crouched down a distance away. All at once, the pain stopped. She pulled her hands away from her face.

"Nyuu?"

"Why don't you finish me if you're so tough?" screamed Bando, unsure of what had happened to his assailant. "Why don't you come back and finish what you started?"

Nyuu drew back in horror. Tears welled in her eyes. Had she done this?

_Lilium_

The girl, exiting her shed, saw a pink haired woman run by, sobbing. Her dog gave a concerned whine. A few meters away, an umbrella lay open in the sand. On the handle, there was something written. It looked like an address to a place called Maple House. She knew the place. For the time being however, it was useful. She picked it up.

Running in the direction that the girl had come from, she found a man flailing about in the sand. From one arm, blood spewed from a stump where the rest of his arm should have been.

"Excuse me," the girl said meekly "What happened to you?"The man kept flailing about. More blood flowed from his arm. "Sir!" The man still thrashed back and forth, swearing to kill someone. "Stop moving around!" she shouted. She either got his attention, or he had finally tired out, as he stopped flailing and relaxed. "Who are you?" he asked. His eyes were shut, if there were any eyes to shut.

The girl tied a tourniquet around the man's stump with a loose bit of rope. "Alright," she said, standing up. "I'm gonna go get an ambulance. Please don't move if you don't have to!" With that, she went to find help, her dog barking in tow. Bando put his head down in defeat. He heard the helicopter coming to get him. "Shit…" he muttered.

_Lilium_

In a nearby hospital, Kouta lay unconscious in a bed, Yuka by his side. Suddenly, he groaned. "Kouta!" exclaimed Yuka, happy to see her cousin was alright. Kouta opened his eyes "Kouta," Yuka repeated.

"Yuka?" Kouta took a look at his surroundings. "What is this?" he asked. "Where am I?"

"What's going on?" Yuka asked in return. "What happened? Are you okay?"

The door opened, and two men walked in. "Please, excuse us," one of them said. Kouta sat up. It was the officers from earlier. "Well, well. Looks like we meet again," said the shorter one.

"We'll need a moment alone," the taller one told Yuka.

_Lilium_

Yuka sat outside Kouta's hospital room, worrying. What had Kouta gotten into that needed the attention of the police?

_Lilium_

Inside the hospital room, Kouta and the officers were silent for a moment. The shorter one had taken the seat that Yuka had occupied. The taller one stood on the opposite side of the bed.

"A soldier with a machine gun, you say?" asked the shorter officer. "Seems more likely you had a run-in with some bikers carrying Saturday night specials, don't you think?"

"No, I don't!" objected Kouta. "They were soldiers!"

"The girl that was with you earlier said she didn't see any soldiers," the shorter one pointed out. "If only we had another witness…"

"Witness…" Kouta muttered. Then he remembered. "Nyuu!" he said aloud. "There was a girl! There was a girl with me at the beach! Is she safe?"

The shorter officer looked to his compatriot. "This girl witness, who was she?" inquired the taller officer.

"Yeah…" began Kouta thinking of a believable lie. "I don't know. I just happened to see her."

"Anything strange about her?" questioned the taller one.

"I can't think of anything strange."

"Hairstyle, clothing, strange behavior?" The taller one asked, a bit more aggressively. "Did you see or notice anything unusual on her head?"

Kouta looked at the officer in surprise. So they _were_ looking for Nyuu.

"It's alright," the shorter one said, standing up. "Just think and tell us whatever it is you do remember."

"I know I said girl," Kouta began slowly, making something up as he went. "But she must have been college age. She had short hair, she was a little overweight."

"Great!" said the shorter officer. "That's plenty! Sorry to have bothered you when you were injured." The two began to walk out, but the shorter one stopped at the foot of his bed. "I would have left you alone, but the doctor said you were healthy. I'd still take it easy for a day or two."

"Hold on!" Kouta protested. "I swear one guy has a machine gun!"

"Yeah, well, there are a bunch of biker gangs around here. We'll make sure that your incident gets reported." He gave Kouta a serious look. "It'd be smart to forget all about it," he muttered, and walked out. Kouta sat in his bed, shocked.

_Lilium_

The girl stood where she left the man, puzzled. He was gone, and the only trace was the pool of blood left by his arm.

_Lilium_

Kouta and Yuka sat silently in a taxi cab, on their way back to Kouta's house.

"God, I really hope she hasn't been killed," Kouta said quietly.

"What?" asked Yuka.

"Nothing."

The cab arrived at the steps that led up to the house's gate.

"Well, I'll stop by again tomorrow," said Yuka as Kouta exited the cab. She handed him the umbrella. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Kouta assured her. "I'll see you later." The cab backed away, and Yuka watched her cousin's shrinking figure, wondering what had happened to him.

_Lilium_

When Kouta reached the top of the stairs, he found Nyuu huddled underneath the gate. Seeing him, she extended her hand and opened it. In her palm was a small, pink seashell, similar to the one that she had broken earlier. Kouta gasped in surprise. So that's why she'd run off to the beach in the pouring rain.

Nyuu's eyes filled with tears again. Kouta dropped the umbrella and hugged her. "I'm sorry."

"Nyuu?"

He looked at the shell. "Thank you," he said.

"Nyuu!"

_Lilium_

Yuka stared out the cab window, thinking of the last time she'd seen Kouta, eight years earlier…

_Lilium_

"_Kouta, come back next year, okay?" said Yuka at Gokurakuji Station, still in her festival yukata. "Don't forget about me!"_

"_Yeah, 'course I'll come back next year," replied Kouta. "After all, I like you!"_

_Lilium_

"That was eight years ago, wasn't it?" Yuka murmured to herself.

"Sorry?" asked the cab driver.

"Oh!" exclaimed Yuka, realizing that she's said that aloud. "No! Nothing!" She noticed a jingling sound. It was the key to Kouta's house. "The key… Oh! Please go back!"

_Lilium_

Nyuu let out a sneeze. She soaking wet. Her white tank top was soaked through to the point that it was clinging to her and more or less completely see-through.

"Okay," said Kouta, rummaging through his pack. "Who are you, anyway? Those two guys, those two soldiers, the police, you've got everybody acting strange."

"Nyuu?"

"Not like you know what I'm asking. But anyway, I've made up my mind, and I'm not going to let them take you, no matter what happens! Alright?" He held up a shirt he took from his pack. "Change into this."

"Nyuu?"

"Okay," he sighed nervously. "That's alright. I guess I'm going to have to change your clothes myself." He gulped nervously, trying not to look at Nyuu's visible breasts.

After he managed to get Nyuu's tank top off, with his eyes closed, Kouta felt about for the shirt. "Uh… shirt, shirt…" His hands found the shirt. "Here we go! Okay, Nyuu arms in the air! Like this!" He lifted his arms up.

"Nyuu!" He could only assume that she had followed suit.

"Don't worry," he said, lifting the shirt over her. "I'm keeping my eyes closed!" He pulled the shirt down over her. His hands nudged her breasts, and he panicked, retreating to the far side of the room. Nyuu gave out a "Nyuu!", surprised at the sensation that ran through her body upon contact. "Sorry! Sorry!" Nyuu took no notice, and began poking at her breasts.

"Underwear's next!" Kouta said, steeling himself. "This is the big one!" He had Nyuu lying on her back, her shirt still halfway pulled down, in what looked dangerously like a missionary position. "So… um… listen… try not to move, okay?" Kouta gulped, and after a moment's hesitation, pulled Nyuu's shorts off.

It was at that moment Yuka walked in.

_Lilium_

Back at the research facility, Chief Kurama and Shirakawa walked down a long hallway.

"We failed?" asked Kurama, referring to the SAT team.

"Yes," answered Shirakawa. "From the SAT debriefing, the team had some difficulties, and we can confirm that Lucy made it ashore, but we haven't tracked her down."

"As gifted as she is at killing, I imagine that she'll find it difficult to keep a low profile for long." The two approached a door marked with two red '7's.

"Regardless," said Shirakawa. "I hope that we won't have to use number seven." The doors slid apart, and the pair entered.

"What's her condition?" Kurama asked a scientist standing near an observation window.

On the other side of the window, shackled to the far wall, was a girl who looked to be no older than twelve or thirteen. She was sitting with her legs folded to either side, and bleeding from wounds all over her body. The wall behind her was pockmarked with craters. But her most defining features were her bright pink hair, and two horns growing out of her skull. Silpelit number seven looked up. She saw Kurama beyond the glass.

"Papa?"

**So, why does Kouta have a woman's shirt in his backpack? Just throwing it out there.**

**Anyways, gather around, my children, and I will tell you my tale. It all started when a friend of mine showed me two anime. One was **_**Elfen Lied**_**, but the other was the one that started this whole thing. **_**Angel Beats!**_** And so I watched **_**Angel Beats! **_**all of the way through. It was then that I discovered Severe Anime Depression Syndrome (SADS). However, the fool that I was, decided to watch **_**Elfen Lied**_** immediately afterwards. Anything even mildly sad in **_**Lied **_**was only amplified by the SADS brought on by **_**Beats!**_**. By the time I was finished, I had a severe case of SADS. I got desperate.**

**Tune in next time to find out just how desperate I got! Now, I'm off to fing the idiot who put the T and Y keys next to each other on the QWERTY layout.**


	4. Chapter 3

**You know, writing is something I really look forward to yet actively dread at the same time. On one hand, I get to give you guys (if anyone actually reads this) something that you enjoy. On the other hand, I have to sit in front of a computer desk for nine to twelve hours straight just so I can hammer out a chapter, then wait a week and proofread it. **

**Anyhow, I hope you guys like my little memoir that I add at the end of each chapter, 'cause I'm gonna keep doing it. If you don't like it, don't read it.**

**What the hell's with **_**Elfen Lied**_**'s opening?**

Chapter Three

Im Innersten

Yuka stared down at Kouta, who was still holding Nyuu's shorts between her legs. Kouta stared back, at a loss for words. "No! Look!" he finally managed. "I- it's not what you think! Nyuu's clothes were wet, and she can't change herself… so, you see…"

Yuka ignored him, marched over to the table, and set the key down. "Here's the key to the house. I'll leave it on the table," she said. She turned to face Kouta. "I'm happy," she told him. "Nyuu seems to be doing fine."

"Yuka, hold on!" Kouta said frantically. "This isn't what you—"

"It looks like I'm interrupting," said Yuka, leaving the room. "I'll just be going."

"What are you implying?" Kouta asked, running after her. "Wait a second! At least give me a chance to explain!" He placed his hand on Yuka's shoulder, stopping her. "Like I said, you misunderstood."

"Hey, Kouta?" Yuka said quietly.

"Hm?"

"Do you remember the festival? The one we always went to when we were kids? Do you remember?"

"The festival?" Kouta asked, confused. "What are you talking about? Come on, that hardly seems important right now—"

Suddenly, Yuka turned around and slapped Kouta across the face. "You jerk!" she cried out.

"Yuka…?" Kouta said confusedly, holding his cheek.

Tears began to well in Yuka's eyes. "Ever since, I've been… I've been…"

"Yuka!"

"You're such a jerk!" Yuka shouted, and ran out of the house.

"Yuka, hold on!" Kouta called, chasing after her, but the only answer he got was the door slamming behind her. "What was all that about?" he wondered.

Kouta shivered. "I just got a chill down my spine!" he remarked. "I wonder if I'm getting sick."

Nyuu, who had been watching the whole debacle from around the corner, gave a concerned "Nyuu…"

_Lilium_

Silpelit number seven, or Nana, tugged against her chains excitedly. "It's you, Papa!" she said, looking at Kurama's figure standing over her. "It's really you!" She tried to move closer to her, but her shackles held her back. She struggled against them, until Kurama stepped closer and unlocked them. Shirakawa and the room monitor watched from inside the observation room.

Nana looked from her newly freed hands to Kurama in wonder.

"Nana," said Kurama. "I'm here to ask for help."

_Lilium_

Yuka sat behind her desk in her room, her head resting on her arms. In front of her, there sat a small box. She sat up and opened it. Inside, there were two dozen tiny, two dimensional figurines of varying objects and animals, all of them perfect.

_Lilium_

_Yuka sat next to Kouta at a festival booth, chipping away at the material encasing the figurine. After several successful maneuvers with her needle, however, a crack appeared along the figurine. "Oh, no! It cracked!" she cried._

"_Oh, wow, you suck at this!" teased Kouta, examining her failure._

"_Yeah? Let me see you do it!" Yuka shot back._

_Kouta took the pin from Yuka and chipped away at his figurine, a cat. "There, I'm finished," he said, leaning back. In front of him was a perfectly cut out cat._

"_It's so good!" exclaimed Yuka. "It's perfect!"_

"_Big deal," said Kouta nonchalantly. "Anybody could do it."_

_Yuka took another try at her figurine, yielding the same results a before. "It cracked again!" she whined._

"_You're such a spas!" teased Kouta. "Get it right once, and I'll do whatever you tell me."_

"_Don't act like you're so cool!" said Yuka, playfully poking Kouta's cheek. "Just you wait! Next time you see me, I'll be able to do it, no problem! Then you'll be sorry!"_

"_Well, keep practicing, and I guess we'll see what happens."_

"_And when I get it, you'd better believe I'll make you do whatever I say! I'm serious!"_

"_Don't worry, I'll remember."_

_Lilium_

Yuka took scooped two handfuls of the figurines in her hands, examined them for a moment, and crushed them in her hands. She pressed her clenched fists to her face. Tears dripped into the box.

"I can't believe it. I'm so stupid!"

_Lilium_

"What do you want me to do?" Nana said excitedly. "I'll do anything you want, just ask me Papa!"

"Why does she call him 'Papa'?" Shirkawa asked the room monitor. "Number seven isn't really Chief Kurama's daughter, is she?"

"Of course not," the monitor replied grimly. "She's been locked in here since she was born. Her life has been spent enduring experiments worse than torture. To stay alive, she needed some kind of support, someone to convince her it all meant something."

"And you're saying that support came from Chief Kurama?" Shirakawa asked.

"She believed that the Chief was her father, and she did everything she could to live up to his expectations. So far, that's alive. Without something to strive for, she would have gone insane long ago."

Shirakawa looked back to Nana, who was happily talking to Kurama, as if everything were fine, despite the blood running down her face. She quickly looked away, unable to bear the sight.

"Number seven is remarkably obedient," the monitor continued. "And has never turned her vectors against humans. I suppose that she's a… 'unique' case."

"There's a person I need you to kill," Kurama told Nana.

Nana stared back at Kurama, stunned, and then bowed her head in shame. "I can't kill anyone," she said sadly.

"The target is a Diclonius, like you, Nana."

"What?" said Nana, bringing her head back up.

"A Diclonius has escaped," Kurama explained. "Diclonius have a natural ability to sense each other. Only you will be able to find her."

"I think I can find her," said Nana. She paused for a moment. "But I could never kill her."

"Then just locate her," said Kurama. "I'll arrange for you to contact me when you've found her."

"Papa?"

"Hm?"

"Is this person… somebody that's making trouble for you?"

"Yes, and you're the only one that can help me."

Nana broke into tears. "Really?" she asked, overjoyed. "Really?" She wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled. "Then I won't let you down!"

_Lilium_

Kurama quickly exited Nana's cell. "You have a day," he told the room monitor. "Get her ready for combat."

_Lilium_

The next morning, the sun shone over Kamakura. Despite the lovely weather, however, Kouta still lay in bed. "Thirty-nine degrees?" he said, holding up the thermometer. "Ah, crap."

"Nyuu," said Nyuu, kneeling over Kouta's futon with a concerned look.

"Don't worry," Kouta assured her. "I'll be fine, as long as I stay in bed." He looked away. The shirt he had given her the previous night only barely managed to cover her up. "You should worry about putting on some underwear."

"Nyuu?"

Kouta turned his head to the window. Sunlight filtered through the curtains. "It's morning already?" He thought of the broken grandfather clock in the hallway. "I wonder what time it is."

As time passed, Kouta could feel his fever rising. Soon, he was panting from the heat.

"Nyuu! Nyuu!" Nyuu cried.

"Water," Kouta said weakly.

"Nyuu?"

"Do you think you could bring me some water?" Kouta asked Nyuu.

"Nyuu…"

"I said, 'water', okay?" Kouta leaned his head back into his pillow, sighing. "You have no idea what I'm saying."

"Wa… ter?" asked Nyuu, mimicking Kouta.

"Uh, right!" said Kouta, surprised that she had said something other than 'Nyuu'. "Do you think you could get me some water?" he asked, pointing in the general direction of the faucet.

"Nyuu!" said Nyuu determinedly, and marched out of the room. Kouta watched in confusion as she ran up and down the hall. Suddenly, there was a loud ruckus, and Nyuu came back. "Nyuu!" she said, holding out a slipper.

Kouta leaned his head back. "Thank you for trying. Anyway, it's the thought that count's, right?"

_Lilium_

Yuka stood in front of the front door of Maple House, holding a bag of some of her old clothes. After a moment, she placed the bag down and turned to leave. She heard the door open behind her. "It's not like I came to see you, Kouta!" she said stubbornly, not bothering to turn around. "I just brought some clothes for Nyuu."

Someone grabbed her arm and pulled at it. It was Nyuu. "Water!" she cried worriedly. "Water!"

"What's the matter?" Yuka asked.

_Lilium_

Yuka wrung the water out of a cloth and placed it on Kouta's forehead. Nyuu had dragged her inside and showed her Kouta's condition, prompting her to take the role of nurse immediately,

"You're really sick," said Yuka. "You should go to the hospital."

"Please," said Kouta weakly. "I'm not going to a hospital."

"Kouta…" Yuka looked at a field of miscellaneous objects near Kouta's futon. "What's all that stuff," she asked. Among the objects were a slipper, a hair dryer, a few rolls of toilet paper, and two video cassettes. "Were you unpacking or something?"

"Yuka?" Kouta asked, turning his head towards her.

"Huh?"

"Yesterday, you were talking about the festival."

"Don't worry about it," said Yuka, half apologizing.

"You know, I don't remember much about it," said Kouta, looking back to the ceiling. "Not long after the last time we said goodbye, things got kinda though for me. Only a few days after I left my dad died in a car accident."

"What?" asked Yuka. As with Kanae, that wasn't what she had heard concerning Kouta's father's death.

"And then," Kouta continued. "Kanae started getting sick. It was just one terrible thing after another. I wonder if that's the reason…"

Yuka bowed her head.

"What's wrong," asked Kouta.

"But that day…" Yuka began. "You, your dad, and little Kanae were… on the train. I stood there and watched you guys get on."

"What?" asked Kouta. "I can't hear what you're saying."

"It's nothing," said Yuka, turning away. Perhaps, if Kouta didn't know the truth, then he was better off. "I'm not saying anything."

"Yuka…"

Yuka picked up the water basin and walked out of the room. "I'll get some fresh water."

_Lilium_

Yuka stood over the sink as the basin filled. "I get it now," she said silently to herself. "Kouta doesn't remember anything about that day. That's why…" Tears began to flow down her cheeks, and she wiped them away.

_Lilium_

"Don't give me that crap!" shouted Bando, who lay on an operating table. Kurama stood over him. "You think I'm gonna let you castrate me? You stupid fuck! Haven't I had enough cut off already?" He waved his arms around blindly, which had been reduced to stumps below the elbow. What were left of his eyes was bandaged, and an IV drip was attached to his arm.

"I do sympathize," said Kurama. But without that operation, you're going to die on that table."

Bando worked his way into a sitting position. "What're you telling me?" he asked. "I almost died once already, now you're giving me this shit?"

"The fate of mankind depends on it," Kurama said calmly.

Bando sat silently for a moment. "Are you freakin' retarded?" he shouted. He knocked the IV stand over, ripping it from his arm and breaking the container of fluid. "What does the fate of my balls have to do with the fate of mankind? No, first, tell me: Who was that bitch with the horns? And what are those hands?" Kurama didn't answer, but stood in silence. "Tell me," Bando repeated. "That girl, what was she? How did she beat me?"

Kurama walked away from the table and to an X-ray screen. "We call her kind the Diclonius," he explained.

"The clo-" Bando stumbled over the word.

"A genetically altered human," Kurama continued. "A mutant."

"She… was human?" asked Bando, shocked.

The lights in the room flicked off, and the X-ray screen illuminated, displaying several scans of a skeleton with a horned skull. "As you know," said Kurama. "The mutation is marked by a pair of protrusions, growing from the skull. But the crucial mutation is… those extra hands you encountered."

"You're kidding, right?" asked Bando. "Or, are you saying they're born equipped with those insane freakin' weapons?"

"Those were her vectors," Kurama explained. "Or receptors, depending on the context. We don't know much about how vectors develop yet. We know they possess extraordinary speed. They vibrate at such a high frequency they can cut through objects. But, we don't believe that they're intended primarily to function as weapons."

"What?"

"In the past, individuals with this genetic abnormality died in infancy, or could not reproduce. Your target has proven herself to be exceptionally adaptable. Once she started developing, we expected certain things of her: Environmental acclamation, the mastery of her vectors. But now, she's found a way to reproduce, although it's very different from the normal human methods."

"What're you telling me?" asked Bando, beginning to understand.

Kurama walked back over to the operating table. "She uses her vectors to spread a kind of genetic infection."

"What?" asked Bando, finally realizing. "I… was…"

"You see," Kurama explained. "Her genetic future depends entirely on-" He paused for a moment, allowing his words to sink in. "-the end of mankind as we know it."

_Lilium_

Kouta awoke the next morning to Yuka leaning over him. "Feeling better?" she asked.

"Oh, well, I think I'm feeling much better," he replied, slightly startled.

Yuka leaned closer and pushed Kouta's hair back, and pressed her forehead to his. Kouta couldn't help but blush. "It looks like your fever's all gone," Yuka said after a moment.

"Uh... where's… uh… Nyuu?" asked Kouta, somewhat flustered.

Instead of answering, Yuka turned and looked towards the doorway. There stood Nyuu, still in the shirt that Kouta had given her the night before last, but now also wearing a skirt that extended below the knees, a red top, and a green hat that branched out and down into two white balls that covered her horns. It was an odd mismatch of clothes, but it seemed befitting of Nyuu. Nyuu gave a cheerful "Nyuu!"

I dressed her up in some of my clothes," explained Yuka. She turned back to Kouta. "And what are you going to do about Nyuu?" she asked. "Do you think we should call the police?"

"What? We can't do that!" he said, thinking of the two officers.

"Kouta?"

"Well, look. All I'm trying to say is, if she wants to stay here, it doesn't seem right to force her to leave. I mean, it'd be rude, you know?"

"Really?" said Yuka, not buying it.

"But there's definitely nothing weird going on, okay?" Kouta assured her.

"Here's the thing," said Yuka, raising an eyebrow. "I've been doing a lot of thinking about this, and I don't think it's a good idea for you and Nyuu to live here all by yourselves."

"Yeah, well…" said Kouta, thinking of an excuse. "But, like I said…"

"So I've decided to live here too," said Yuka. "I'm moving in."

"Huh?" said Kouta, surprised.

"Besides," continued Yuka. "You've got plenty of room!"

_Lilium_

Outside of the facility, on the helipad, Nana stood outdoors for the first time in her life. "Wow!" she said excitedly. "I've never worn this kind of dress!" She was wearing a simple black and white dress. It was old-fashioned looking, but she would blend onto the crowd, for the most part. "Papa," she said, turning to Kurama. Does it look good on me? Does it?"

"Nana, I'm counting on you," said Kurama, dismissing her excitement.

"I know!" said Nana, running towards him. "I'll do my best for you, Papa! And all I want is a pat on the head if I do a good job!"

"Of course," said Kurama. "But if you think the job is too hard, I want you to stop the mission immediately. Be sure to come back."

Nana nodded. "Papa, I've got a favor to ask you."

"Hm?"

_Lilium_

Kurama and Shirakawa watched as the chopper lifted off and flew in the direction of Kamakura.

"So, Lucy," began Shirakawa. "If she's still in Kamakura, Number Seven should have no trouble finding her. But Number Seven has no chance of defeating Lucy in combat."

"No matter," said Kurama, seemingly uncaring. "Her death may save lives we'd lose in a random search."

_Lilium_

In Maple House, Yuka had moved her things into an empty room. As she unpacked, she noticed a small wooden box mixed among her things.

"Oh!" she remarked. "That's right."

_Lilium_

In the hallway, next to the grandfather clock, Kouta was knelt down, cleaning the floor. Nyuu sat a short distance away, watching him intently. "Yuka's such a slave driver, isn't she?" asked Kouta, though he wasn't sure if he was asking Nyuu or himself. "I'm still a little sick, and she doesn't care." His mind turned to other places. "But, you know, living with a girl… It could be kinda cool." After all, neither Yuka nor Nyuu were half bad looking…

"Kouta," chimed Yuka, making him jump. Kouta turned around. Yuka was sitting behind him, resting her head on her fists, and a small wooden box sitting on her knees. "What were you fantasizing about, huh?"

"Uh, nothing!" said Kouta, quickly moving to another section of the floor. "I- I wasn't thinking anything!"

Nyuu crawled over to Yuka. "Nyuu, nyuu!" she said, pointing to herself and making a circular motion with her hand.

"You want to help us clean? Is that it, Nyuu?" asked Yuka.

Nyuu sat up and nodded. "Nyuu!"

"Then you just wait right here," said Yuka, setting the box down on a decorative maple stump. "I'll go get you a rag." She stood up and went to find Nyuu something to clean with.

Once Yuka had left, Nyuu went over to Kouta and knelt down next to him, intently watching him clean. "You're getting your own," said Kouta. "Yuka's going to bring you one." Nyuu leaned in closer, and Kouta's elbow accidentally nudged one of Nyuu's breasts. Nyuu gave a surprised "Nyuu!", and Kouta jumped away. "Shoot!" apologized Kouta. "I'm sorry!"

Nyuu simpley stared at Kouta for a moment, and then picked his hand up. "Nyuu."

"What?" asked Kouta, bewildered. "What are you doing?"

Nyuu placed Kouta's hand on her breast, and began to rub herself against it. She leaned into him, softly "Nyuu"ing as she went. Kouta simply sat there, unsure of what to do, or even what was going on. On one hand, here he was, with a girl basically asking him to do things he's only dreamed of doing. On the other hand, Yuka could come back at any moment, and he didn't even want to think about what she might do if she found him like this.

Kouta eventually gave in. "You want me to squeeze it?" he asked. He took her soft "Nyuu"s as a "Yes" and gave her breast a light squeeze. Nyuu gave out a sharp "Nyuu!" at the sensation. "I wonder who would've taught her to do this?" Kouta said to himself.

"Well, well," said Yuka. Kouta turned to see her sitting a short distance away. How long had she been there? Had she been watching? "A love affair," she went on. "Isn't that just terrific?"

"It wasn't me!" said Kouta quickly. "I swear, Nyuu started it—" Before he could explain himself, however, Yuka slapped him across the face again.

"I'm going shopping," Yuka said bluntly, slipping her shoes on.

"Glad she didn't punch me," Kouta sighed to himself.

Yuka opened the door. "Try keeping your hands off Nyuu, Okay?"

"O- of course!"

_Lilium_

As Yuka walked down the stairs the led to the house, the young girl from Yuigahama walked up, carrying the umbrella, and passing her on the way. "I'm sure the place is around here," the girl said, checking the address on the umbrella. Her small dog, which she had on a leash, began to bark excitedly, and tugged in the direction of the stairs. The girl followed.

"Is this it?" the girl wondered, coming to the outer wall of Maple House.

"Hello?" she called out, sliding open the front door. Nyuu came from around the corner.

"Nyuu?"

"I'm sorry to bother you," she said, holding the umbrella up. "The thing is, at the beach—"

"What is it?" called Kouta, rounding the corner. "What'd you forget?" He saw the girl in the doorway. "Huh?"

"Uh… Well, you see, I found an umbrella," the girl explained. "And the name of this restaurant was written on the handle."

"Oh," said Kouta, walking towards her and taking the umbrella. "Thanks for bringing it back."

"The thing is, I found it in Yuigahama the night before last."

"The night before last!" Kouta exclaimed, suddenly interested.

"Um, yes…?"

"Do you remember seeing _anyone_ that night?" inquired Kouta, causing the girl to shrink back.

"Well, there was this man who looked like a soldier," the girl answered.

"Hey, I'd really like to ask you some questions about what you saw that night."

"What?" asked the girl, rather confused about Kouta's odd behavior.

_Lilium_

Yuka walked back up the stairs, returning from the store. She noticed a small dog tied up in front of the gate.

"Who's here?" she wondered after entering the front door and seeing an unfamiliar pair of shoes.

_Lilium_

Yuka dropped her shopping bag. "_Another_ girl?" she asked upon seeing the girl in the dining room, eye twitching in irritation.

"Yuka!" said Kouta. "This girl! She was there that night! She saw everything that happened!"

"What night is that?" asked Yuka.

_Lilium_

In the hallway, Nyuu scrubbed the floors, silently "Nyuu"ing to herself. As she passed the maple stump, however, she noticed the small box. "Nyuu?" She picked the object up and turned it over, examining it. She stood up.

_Lilium_

Kouta slammed both fists down on the table after hearing the girl's recounting of the events at Yuigahama. "Just like I always thought!" he seethed. "That detective at the hospital, he knew about the soldier, all along!"

"You were attacked by a soldier?" Yuka asked him. "What? Why didn't you tell me?"

_Lilium_

Outside, Nyuu continued to stare at the box. Absentmindedly stepping forward, she slipped on her cleaning rag, dropping the box and hitting her head.

_Lilium_

Hearing the sound, Kouta raced into the hallway. He was met with the sight of Nyuu sitting on the ground, rubbing her head and the bucket of water spilled on the ground. Next to her, the small wooden box lay open, and from it came slow, almost funereal music. "Oh no!" exclaimed Kouta. "The water spilled all over the place!" He noticed Nyuu on the ground. "Nyuu, are you alright?" he asked. "What happened? Did you hurt youself?"

"What's up?" asked Yuka, exiting the dining room with the girl.

"She scared me," replied Kouta. He noticed the song coming from the box. "That music…"

"She dropped the music box!" gasped Yuka.

None of the trio had notice the subtle changes in Nyuu's stance, or the shadow over her face.

Lucy shot her vectors at Kouta, but at that moment, her turned back to face her.

"_No, please stop!" he screamed, tears streaming down his face._

Lucy couldn't believe her eyes. Her vectors stopped just short of Kouta, and then drew back. Of all the places she could end up, and she had ended up here. "Kouta…" she whispered sadly, and walked away, out the door.

"Hey, Nyuu!" Kouta called after her. "I really hope she's okay…"

"Kouta, remember?" asked Yuka, who had picked up the music box. "Remember the song?"

Kouta took up the music box in his hands. "Let's see…" he said. There was something inscribed on the inside of the lid, but he didn't bother to read it. He listened to the soft music.

"The melody is beautiful," the girl remarked.

Kouta closed the box, and the music stopped.

"I've been meaning to give this to you," said Yuka.

"To me?" asked Kouta.

"You left it at my house the last time you were here," Yuka reminded him.

"I left it?" Kouta asked. He had absolutely no memory of having such a box, or of ever hearing the music that it played.

"Don't you remember?"

"Er… I think I kind of remember," Kouta lied.

Yuka looked at him, concerned. He didn't even remember that?

The girl looked back and forth at the two, confused.

Presently, a tiny dog could be heard barking outside. "The dog out there?" Yuka asked the girl. "Is it yours?"

"Uh, yeah," the girl replied. "He's more of a friend, I guess."

"He's your friend?"

The girl looked down, embarrassed. "I don't actually own him," she said. "But we're always together, so I guess we're friends."

_Lilium_

Lucy noticed the dog on her way out. Yet another unpleasant memory that she would rather leave behind. After a moment's consideration, she made a quick motion with one of her vectors.

_Lilium_

"Looks like Nyuu's taking a walk," Yuka noted.

"She didn't have a problem finding this place last time," Kouta assured her. "I'm sure she'll be fine. Besides, her horns are covered up." He walked away into the foyer.

"What? Horns?" the girl asked, confused.

"I bet he means hair!" Yuka said quickly, faking a laugh.

The two walked into the foyer. "Okay, guess I'll be leaving," said the girl, giving a polite bow.

"Oh, wait a second!" said Kouta. "You didn't tell us your name."

"Oh, yeah," the girl said shyly. "It's Mayu."

"Would you mind if I could get your address or something, maybe some way to find you?" Kouta asked. "Just in case I think of any questions I forgot to ask."

"Well… uh…" said Mayu. "I… um…" She hesitated for a moment. "I've gotta go!" she said, and ran out the door. Kouta and Yuka exchanged glances.

_Lilium_

Mayu was horrified at what she found. "Oh no!" she cried, seeing her dog's broken leash. "Oh, no! Wanta!" The dog was nowhere in sight. "Wanta! Wanta!" she cried frantically. "Wanta! Wanta!"

She heard Wanta's high pitched barking from behind her. "Wanta!" she sighed, relieved. "Wanta!" She scooped the tiny dog up in her arms. "I'm so glad!" she exclaimed. "I thought even you left me this time." She took another look at the broken leash. "Wanta, you promise you weren't going to leave me or anything?" Wanta barked in reply. Mayu stared at the broken leash, bewildered.

_Lilium_

Kouta and Yuka sat across from each other in the dining room. Kouta sat facing the table with his knees folded under him. Yuka sat facing to the side, her legs folded in front of her, and staring at the music box.

"Nyuu's been gone awhile," Kouta remarked. Yuka continued to stare at the box.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Kouta made to stand up. "Wait here," he told Yuka. "I'm going to go check on her." Yuka continued to stare at the box. "What's wrong now?" he asked her. The more time he spent with his cousin, the less he understood her.

"Always…" she said. "I always meant to give you this, when you came back. I kept it for you."

"Oh," said Kouta, not understanding in the slightest. "I see. Thanks. Well, anyway, we should check on Nyuu."

"So, have you forgotten everything?" Yuka asked.

"What?"

"Hey, Kouta?"

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Do you think about… _touching my breasts, too_?"

"Huh?"

_Lilium_

Nana stood on a flight of stairs overlooking the ocean. In her hands, she held Kurama's gift.

_Lilium_

"_Papa, I've got a favor to ask you."_

"_Hm?"_

"_Can I have the string from around your neck?" she asked. "I've always wanted it, ever since I saw it."_

_Kurama removed his necktie and handed it to Nana._

"_Yay!" she said happily. "Thank you, Papa! I'm going to make you so proud!"_

_Lilium_

Nana wrapped the tie around her horns, giving her the appearance of wearing bows, or some sort of headband. She picked up the bag of equipment Kurama had given her and proceeded down the stairs.

_Lilium_

Lucy sat silently on the steps, thinking to herself. She had always found the spot relaxing, ever since the first time she had been there, just like _Lilium_. But she wasn't focused on the view of the ocean, or on the song. She was contemplating the past, or what was left of it. Large chunks of her memory had vanished. Perhaps that was where the 'other' had come from. Even now, she was stirring in the back of her mind.

What she did remember, however, she didn't want to, especially regarding _him_…

Her thoughts were interrupted when the annoying presence that she felt when she woke up approached her from behind.

"Excuse me," said Nana. "Of course you knew I was coming, and I knew that you'd know." Lucy didn't reply, she knew what this Silpelit wanted.

"I'm going to go home," Nana continued. "And you're going to some with me."

**I'm not the only one who finds it impossible to take Lucy seriously in that outfit, right?**

**mastesargent's Long and Boring Story as to Why He's Writing this Fic ****–**** Part 2 **

**Driven mad be the overabundance of SADS in my system, I frantically searched for something so rise from this pit of despair. To my sincere regret, I found it. **_**Rosario + Vampire **_**was the final nail in the coffin of my mind. And so I began what felt like the longest anime I had ever watched, even though it was only twenty six episodes. After the first thirteen, I thought I was finished, but no! There was a second season. And so SAID (Severe Anime Insanity Disorder) was born. Granted, Kira Vincent-Davis' portrayal of Kokoa Shuzen was pretty good, but… Wait a sec… Kira Vincent-Davis? **

***checks filmography***

**OH! MY! GOD!**


	5. Chapter 4

**How do I start this intro? Should I start by pleading for more reviews? Or should I go on a tangent about the wondrous gem that is **_**Sword Art Online**_**? Or perhaps I should complain about how **_**Jack the Giant Slayer**_** is a god-awful abomination of a film that ripped off of **_**The Return of the King**_** so blatantly you'd be blind not to see it. Actually, based on that description, I've got a friend who is now blind.**

**Er… I think I'll go with the **_**Sword Art**_** route. So, yeah. I've recently fallen in love with the **_**Sword Art Online **_**anime and light novels. Actually, **_**Sword Art**_** is my first light novel, so I suppose that's a good a place as any to start. Still, it's nice to have something to do with my time, though at the rate I'm going, I'll likely run out of light novels within the next week or so.**

**Anyways, back to the main topic. It took me until writing it to realize this, but the episode three of **_**Elfen Lied **_**is basically a massive exposition dump to fill us in on all of this gory melodrama that we'd been exposed to. Weird, because in the manga, things are made pretty clear from the get-go as to what Lucy is and how she does what she does. I dunno, I kind of feel like they sacrificed the integrity of the plot somewhat because they forgot to add the small bits of exposition here and there, and so dumped most of it into a half an hour. Oh, well. Let's watch (or read, in this case) Nana get horribly eviscerated!**

Chapter Four

Aufeinandertreffen

"I'm going to go home," Nana repeated, when Lucy made no reply. "And you're coming with me." There was a brief pause, during which Lucy made no attempt at reply. "It's no use running away," continued Nana. She set down what appeared to be a paper grocery bag, though upon closer inspection, it was full of communications equipment. "I've already told them I've found you. They know you're here."

Slowly, Lucy stood up, but still didn't acknowledge the Silpelit standing behind her. "What's next?" asked Nana. "Will you kill me, too?"

"So far, I've never been forced to kill one of _our_ species," Lucy finally replied, though she still didn't face her fellow Diclonius.

"Our species?" Nana began to ask, but Lucy started to walk away. "Please, wait a minute!" she called after her. Lucy stopped and turned to face her. "You know, they won't let me go home," Nana told her. "Not until… Not until I bring you back with me." Suddenly, she felt as if several arms had entered different points of her body. Although she couldn't see them, Nana felt Lucy's vectors positioned around her vital organs.

"Stand still!" Lucy said harshly. "It's as easy as moving an artery in your brain. My lightest touch would kill you."

Obediently, Nana stood absolutely still, until she felt Lucy's vectors leave her body.

"Go home," Lucy said bluntly, and resumed walking down the stairs.

Nana stared after Lucy as she walked down the stairs, half in shock from being a hair's breadth from death. Suddenly, she returned to her senses. "Hold on!" she called after Lucy once again.

Finally fed up with this insolent pest, Lucy swung around and threw Nana against the wall that bordered one side of the stairway. Nana knelt on the stairs, trembling as blood dripped from an injury somewhere in her mouth, or perhaps from within her body.

"I was going to let you go," Lucy said indifferently. "After all, there aren't that many of us out there. But you're just such a pain in the ass-"

"I'm a pain?" Nana interrupted, a rage bubbling within her that she knew naught. Lucy was taken slightly aback by the sudden change within her. "That's not pain!" Nana said in a challenging tone, standing back up. "I'll show you what pain is!" With that, Nana finally let loose her vectors. Lucy nimbly dodged the initial strike, back outside what should have been the minimum safe distance. However, Nana's vectors still managed to somehow send Lucy flying into the cemetery across the street from the bottom of the stairs.

Nana slowly approached Lucy, who had come to rest against a large, black tombstone. Lucy had barely the time to lift her head when Nana used her vectors to grab her by the neck, lift her up, and slam her back into the ground. Lucy then attempted to attack with her own vectors, but they came to a halt just short of Nana's face.

"Your vectors," realized Lucy. "They're longer than mine!"

"Don't worry," Nana assured Lucy. "I won't kill you. I couldn't. But, for Papa, I'll teach you a lesson!"

_Lilium_

Kouta stared at Yuka, somewhat put off by her question. Did he think about touching her breasts? What kind of question was that? He hadn't seen her in nearly eight years, and though she was his cousin, he never remembered looking at her in _that_ sort of way. Yes, she was a girl, and a pretty one at that, but most girls don't go asking that kind of question out of the blue.

"Uh… um…" Kouta stammered, trying to think of a proper response, which in itself was dangerous. If he answered either way in the wrong fashion, she might hit him again, or worse. "What are you saying?" he finally asked after weighing his options.

"Do you want to touch me?" Yuka repeated, still staring at the box. "Like you touched Nyuu?"

"I told you already," Kouta explained, misunderstanding Yuka's question. "What you saw, that was something Nyuu started!" He turned back to the door. "But anyway," he said, changing the subject. "Nyuu's missing, and I think we should go find her." With that he started to get up again.

Suddenly, Yuka slammed her hand onto the table. Kouta flinched at the sudden noise, and turned in surprise to his cousin.

"Nyuu, Nyuu, Nyuu!" Yuka shouted exasperatedly. "You don't care about me anymore!"

"Yuka…" said Kouta, taken aback by her sudden shift in mood.

"You don't tell me important things," she continued. "I mean, you were attacked by a soldier and I didn't even know about it!"

"Look," Kouta tried to explain. "That's just because I didn't want to worry you for no good reason!"

Yuka clenched her fists. "Why won't you let me worry about you, Kouta?" She began to tremble. "After all, you're always worrying about Nyuu."

"What's that got to do with it?"

"I waited all this time… I thought that finally we were going to be together!" Yuka stood up and began walking out of the room, sobbing into her hands.

"Um… Yuka…" Kouta began, coming up behind her.

Before he could continue, however, Yuka swung around and delivered a punch to Kouta's face, sending him back to the ground.

"You stupid jerk!" she screamed. "I hate you, Kouta, I really do hate you, you know!" With that, she ran out of the room, sobbing. Kouta lay on the floor, absolutely bewildered.

_Lilium_

Yuka walked through a traffic tunnel, tears still in her eyes as she wandered aimlessly.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this," she muttered to herself. She thought back to the funeral of Kouta's father and Kanae, just after everything had fallen apart.

_Lilium_

_Yuka sated at the photograph of Kanae and Kouta's father, which rested upon a bed of flowers._

"_Kouta," she called silently, wondering where her cousin was. This was the funeral of his own father and sister, after all. "Where's Kouta?"_

"_I heard that Kouta's in the hospital," she heard a nearby group of adults say in hushed voices._

"_Yes, he doesn't talk anymore. He's in a state of shock," said another adult. "It's not surprising."_

"_That poor thing…"_

_Yuka looked around desperately. Kouta had promised that he would come back, but now, after all that had happened, would he ever return to Kamakura?_

_Yuka began to cry as the adults watched her with pitiful gazes._

_Lilium_

"It's not fair," Yuka scolded herself. "Kouta's the one who deserves to be sad, not me, but still…"

_Lilium_

"Ouch," muttered Kouta, nursing the bruise Yuka had left on his cheek. He understood her less by the minute. Sometimes she would be bright and cheerful, as he remembered her, and then other times she would turn into an emotional train wreck, alternating between sobbing and hitting him. Just what was with that girl?

_Lilium_

Lucy struggled against Nana's vector, which held her firmly by the neck.

"If I wanted to do it, you'd be dead three times already," said Nana, eyes gleaming in determination. "After all, _my lightest touch would kill you_."

While she was saying this, however, Lucy used her vectors to pick up several slabs of stone from behind her and hurled them a Nana, who barely managed to dodge them. In doing this, however, she was forced to release Lucy from her grip. However, Nana still managed to knock Lucy back to the ground with her vectors.

_Lilium_

In a bakery on one of the main streets of Kamakura, Mayu stood in front of the service counter.

"Hello, excuse me?" she said to the woman who ran the register every day.

"Oh, I have it ready for you," said the cashier, who pulled a bag of bread crusts from behind the counter. "Here." Mayu took the bag, and Wanta wagged his tail hungrily. "Wow, what a hungry little dog you have!" the cashier remarked upon seen Wanta. "Don't tell me he eats all this by himself!"

"Oh, um…" said Mayu, almost whispering. "You know how dogs are…"

"Hey, how old are you?" the cashier asked.

"Well, uh… I'm thirteen," answered Mayu. "Oh! I'll be fourteen years old tomorrow!"

"Wow! So tomorrow is your birthday?"

"What? Yes. Well… Alright, thanks a lot!" With that, Mayu exited the bakery onto the main street, but as she exited the shop, she bumped into someone.

"Hey, you're-"

Mayu turned to see Yuka, who had been walking down the same street. Then, Yuka noticed the bag of bread crusts. Mayu quickly put them behind her back. "Okay, um…" she said, trying to cook up an excuse. "See you later!" Keeping the bread crusts out of Yuka's field of vision, Mayu turned around and ran in the opposite direction, leaving a bewildered Yuka.

_Lilium_

Nana and Lucy both stood facing each other.

"Are you ready to go back with me now?" Nana asked Lucy. "You know you can't defeat me," she continued confidently. "My vectors are longer than yours!"

Upon hearing this, an amused smile spread across Lucy's face. At that moment, an immense stone slab came crashing down. Once again, Nana barely managed to dodge it by throwing herself back, and Lucy followed up by launching several wooden boards at her, which Nana avoided just before they stuck into the ground where she had been an instant before.

"That's what I was afraid of," Nana muttered to herself. "Her powers are much stronger than mine." Looking around, she realized that she had lost sight of Lucy. "Oh, no!"

Behind her, standing atop a weathered tombstone, Lucy gathered more stone and planks, and sent them crashing into Nana.

_Lilium_

Mayu, who was sitting on a staircase and eating her crusts with Wanta, heard a crashing sound in the distance. "What was that?" she asked, turning to Wanta.

_Lilium_

Lucy watched the cloud of dust generated by the impact, confident that Nana had been killed. However, as the dust cleared, Nana was revealed to be a short distance away, her vectors latched on to a tree. That was how she had dodged the mass of objects.

"You seem pretty comfortable with that experimental equipment of yours," said Lucy, watching a Nana got back to her feet.

"I got all dressed up to come get you!" said Nana, patting the dust off of her dress. Lucy raised several more loose chunks of stone. "But here we go again!" said Nana. "Because you insist on fighting!" She extended her vectors and pulled herself into the air by grabbing a nearby tree, avoiding the barrage of rubble sent at her.

However, once she reached the apex of her flight, she found herself momentarily suspended in midair. At that moment, Lucy launched herself after Nana, who was powerless to avoid the blow from her vectors. She coughed up tiny globules of blood. Then, Lucy accelerated Nana's descent by throwing her down with her vectors. Nana impacted with a crash.

_Lilium_

As she descended the staircase, Mayu noticed a cloud of dust rising from the nearby cemetery. Within the cemetery, she could make out the figure of a woman with brightly colored hair in a mismatched outfit. "I know that girl!" she exclaimed, and quickened her descent.

_Lilium_

Nana stood up and wiped the blood from her mouth with her sleeve. "I'm sorry to do this," she said, and placed one of her vectors inside Lucy's leg. "But if you can't walk, you can't leave."

At that moment, Mayu came running into the cemetery. "Don't do it!" she screamed. "Stop fighting!"

"Don't come any closer!" Nana warned her, but in doing so, she lost her concentration, and her vector withdrew from Lucy's leg.

Seeing this, a smile spread across Lucy's face, and Nana's left leg, which was nearest to her, was sliced clean off above the knee. Then, her outstretched fingers flew off of her outstretched right hand. "Wha-" was all she managed to say before she came crashing to the ground.

Mayu, who watched in awe of the horrifying spectacle in front of her, began to scream. "NOOOOO!"

Taking notice of the girl, Lucy picked her up with her vectors and flung her away into a nearby grove of trees.

Nana lay trembling in pain as blood spewed from her severed leg. "It hurts!" she cried softly. "It hurts! Papa! Papa, help me!" Suddenly, she became aware of Lucy's presence, and her eyes flew open. There she stood, just in front of her.

"I'm not scared of you!" said Nana defiantly. "It doesn't hurt at all!" Just as she said this, her right arm was torn off just below the shoulder. Nana reflexively screamed in pain and clutched her right shoulder.

"So does it hurt now?" asked Lucy, almost nonchalantly.

Nana attempted to crawly away with her remaining arm and leg. She turned back to face Lucy, who simply stood, watching her with a look of indifference. "Please, no-" Nana pleaded. "No more!"

Lucy, however, ignored her, and ripped off Nana's right leg and left arm. Nana fell to the ground, her limbs reduced to bloody stumps, as her blood pooled around her. Her vision began to white out.

"You suffering?" asked Lucy. "Does it hurt yet? Don't worry; I'll put you out of your misery."

Before she could do anything, a round from a rifle impacted a gravestone near her. Lucy froze in place and turned in the direction of the projectile.

_Lilium_

"The first bullet missed her, sir," the sniper told his spotter, also his commanding officer. "I'm preparing for another shot."

"Hold on!" ordered the spotter.

"Sir?"

_Lilium_

Chief Kurama entered the cemetery and gazed upon the horrifying spectacle in front of him. There, a few meters in front of him, was Lucy, and just below her… "Nana!" exclaimed Kurama, seeing the limbless Silpelit.

"Papa…" she replied weakly. Suddenly, as if she thought she could still win, she thrust one of her vectors into Lucy's head and pinched her pineal gland, which was larger than the average human's and controlled the vectors, ensuring that Lucy's vectors were temporarily rendered useless.

Lucy screamed in pain, grasping her head. "My eyes!" she said, unsure of what Nana had done. She looked down at her hands. "Still there…" She looked back to Nana. "What did you do?"

There was a sound of multiple guns being leveled, and Lucy turned to face them. On one side, Chief Kurama, one of his aides, and two SAT troops. On the other side, five more SAT troops. "That settles it," said Kurama. "There's no way I can forgive you." Kurama pushed his glasses back up his nose. "No way in hell."

"It looks like it's all over for Number Seven," remarked the aide. Kurama began to walk towards Lucy and Nana. "Chief, hold on!" the aide called out, but to no avail.

"What is he doing?" one of the SAT troops asked.

Kurama continued to walk past Lucy.

"He's… suicidal!" the aide exclaimed.

Kurama knelt next to Nana and lifter her head from the ground. "Papa, I'm sorry!" Nana apologized. "You gave me the string from your neck, and now it's dirty!"

"I told you I'd come," said Kurama. "Why didn't you wait for me?"

"Because," Nana said tearfully. "I thought you would be proud of me if I brought her back to you. But then… Nut then I couldn't do it. I'm so sorry, Papa!"

"Do we terminate her?" one of the soldiers asked the aide.

"Hold on," the aide cautioned. "We don't want to provoke her right now. But why isn't she attacking the Chief?"

"Papa, is it?" Lucy asked with a tone of pleasure. "Too bad it looks like you daughter is dead!"

"Yes…" agreed Kurama, slowly standing up. He spun around and backhanded Lucy across the face, knocking her down. "I killed her!"

The aide and the SAT troops all gasped at the Chief's actions. Anyone who attacked Lucy was generally killed immediately.

"That's nothing compared to the pain you caused Nana," Kurama said to Lucy, who knelt on her arms and legs, blood dribbling from her mouth. "But it's the least I could do."

Suddenly, Lucy realized what that Silpelit brat had done to her.

"Stand back, Chief!" shouted the aide. "Everyone, take their aim!"

At that moment, Lucy hopped atop the gravestones and leapt away. "Follow her!" the aide ordered the SAT troops, who all rushed after her. The aide turned back to Kurama, who held Nana in his arms. "Chief," he muttered sorrowfully. "Are you…?"

"She ran away?" said Nana in disbelief. "I didn't stop her."

"Please, don't talk," said Kurama.

"I did something you didn't want me to, didn't I?" asked Nana. She paused for a moment. "Papa?" she asked. "Tell me: Am I useless now? Will I be able to… help you again… help you again someday? Oh, Papa, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"Please," Kurama repeated, patting her forehead. "Don't talk. Just be still."

_Lilium_

Yuka stood, watching the sunset, lost in thought. If what she had learned about Mayu was true, then…

_Lilium_

"_The girl that just left?" said the cashier at the bakery. "I don't know. She comes here every day, though." She paused, hesitating. "She's always wearing the same clothes, so people from the stores around here think she's homeless."_

_Lilium_

"I thought so," Yuka said to herself. "That girl is… I should tell Kouta!" A sabbing pain went through her heart at the thought of Kouta. "Oh, Kouta…"

Above her, an official-looking helicopter flew overhead.

_Lilium_

Inside the helicopter, Chief Kurama sat next to Nana's bandage-covered body, the latter of whom was beginning to hyperventilate.

"Chief Kurama," his aide called from the front of the passenger compartment. He held an earphone out. "It's from Secretary Shirakawa." Kurama stood to take the call.

"_I heard_," said Shirakawa over the phone. "_I'm terribly sorry_."

"What is it?" Kurama asked impatiently.

"_Director Kakuzawa is here_."

"The Director's there?" Kurama asked. The Director visiting the facility was unusual, and generally only occurred when he came for a routine inspection. If he was there now, he must have been informed of Lucy's escape.

"_He says he wants to see you the moment you arrive_."

Kurama was silent for a moment. "I'll be there," he said. His eyes shone with hatred from behind his spectacles.

_Lilium_

As Yuka continued to wander the streets, she noticed someone out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see who it was.

"Oh, Nyuu!" she exclaimed in surprise. In front of her, Nyuu stood, looking absolutely terrified. She had taken off her hat, exposing her horns, and her right sleeve was torn off. She ran up and embraced Yuka with a frightened "Nyuu!"

"Did you get lost?" Yuka asked her, feeling ever-so-slightly worried despite her jealousy. She wrapped her arms around Nyuu. "You should know better than to go out alone."

"Nyuu! Nyuu! Nyuu!" Nyu sobbed into Yuka's shoulder.

Yuka lifted her hand from Nyuu's right shoulder, revealing a cut across her arm. "Oh, you hurt yourself!" she remarked. She took a spare handkerchief and tied it around Nyuu's injured arm. "There, that'll do for now. We'll clean you up when we get home." Yuka stopped short. Going home meant going back to Kouta, whom she still didn't feel ready to face…

Her thoughts were interrupted when Nyuu began to poke at the bandage around her arm. "Oh, no, don't touch it!" she told her. "Just leave it alone!"

"Nyuu?"

"You know, something must be wrong with me," Yuka suddenly realized. "I'm so jealous of you, I shouldn't be."

Of course, Nyuu had little to no understanding of what Yuka was saying, and expressed this with a "Nyuu?"

"Okay, Nyuu," said Yuka, realizing this. "Let's go home!"

_Lilium_

They're late…" Kouta muttered as ha paced the hallway. He took a look at the grandfather clock. "Oh, yeah, that's right," he muttered, remembering that the thing didn't work. "I forgot, it's broken, isn't it?"

Suddenly, the phone in the foyer began to ring.

_Lilium_

The phone call happened to be from the hospital. Kouta rushed over as fast as he could, and a nurse guided him through the hallway.

"Someone was walking by and saw wounded girl lying on the ground," said the nurse.

"The girl they found," Kouta inquired. "What did she look like? Did she have long hair, or-"

"She's right over there," the nurse cut him off.

Kouta looked over, expecting to see Nyuu waiting for him, but instead found Mayu seated along the wall, a bandage around her head.

"What?" Kouta whispered, as surprised as he was confused.

_Lilium_

"I told them you were a relative from out of town," said Kouta as he and Mayu exited the hospital. "Otherwise they wouldn't have let me in."

"I'm really sorry," Mayu apologized. "Don't worry, I'm gonna pay you back for the hospital bill as soon as I can."

"Setting aside the money for now," Kouta began. "Of everyone you could have called, why'd you call us?"

Mayu hesitated for a moment. "I… don't know."

Kouta let out a sigh, deciding to let the issue go. After a few moments, however, a hollow grumble rang through the air.

"I'm so sorry!" Mayu cried out in embarrassment, her cheeks turning red. "You didn't hear that!"

"How about, uh, you come over to our place for dinner?" Kouta suggested.

"Huh?"

_Lilium_

As Kouta and Mayu approached Maple House with Wanta, who was waiting near the hospital, they noticed the lights were on.

"Oh!" Kouta remarked. "Looks like somebody's home!

"Yuka, Nyuu!" he called out as he, Mayu, and Wanta entered. "Anyone home?"

"Welcome back!" said Yuka, stepping into the foyer.

"Yeah, I'm back," said Kouta.

"Guess what?" Yak asked. "I found Nyuu!"

"Nyuu's home too?"

"Just like I thought, she got lost," Yuka replied. She noticed Mayu, who was slightly behing Kouta. "Oh?"

"Hello," said Mayu. "I mean, good evening."

"Nyuu!" called Nyuu, running down the hall.

"I was worried about you, Nyuu!" said Kouta. Nyuu plowed into his arms. "Easy!" he said, barely maintaining his balance.

Upon seeing Nyuu, Mayu suddenly recalled the woman in the cemetery, and how the girl's leg, fingers and arm had come off.

"Excuse me?" Mayu began to ask. Kouta and Nyuu both turned to her, but when she saw Nyuu's eyes, sparkling with happiness, and without a hint of malice, she dismissed the thought.

"Nyuu?" Nyuu asked.

"I'm being rude," Mayu apologized. "There's _no way_ that legs would fly off on their own."

"What are you talking about?" Kouta asked.

"Oh, nothing at all," Mayu said quickly. "I just remembered a strange dream I had."

"Why don't we all go in?" Yuka suggested. "I just put some dinner on the table."

"Oh, okay…" said Mayu. "Sure."

They left Wanta a bowl of food in the foyer, and proceeded into the dining room to eat.

_Lilium_

As Mayu placed her first bite of food into her mouth, she placed a hand on her reddening cheek.

"It's… good," she said. Having lived off of bread crusts for so long, she wasn't used to such flavor in her food.

"Well, thanks!" said Yuka, gladly accepting the compliment to her cooking. "You really think so?"

"Nyuu!" said Nyuu, in a cheerful tone that suggested that she understood the situation.

Kouta took a sip of his soup. "Seriously?" he asked. "I think it's alright. I've had much better when I was-"

"Fine, Kouta, then don't eat it!" Yuka snapped.

"Thank you so much," said Mayu once she had finished eating. "It was the best meal I've had in a long time."

"I almost forgot," said Yuka. "Mayu, the bath is ready. Feel free to use it, if you want."

"What?"

"_Right_, Kouta?"

"What? But, uh…"

Yuka shot him a glare that could have stopped a bullet.

"Oh! Yeah!" he course corrected. "Make yourself at home, Mayu! That's fine…"

_Lilium_

Mayu lowered herself into the bathwater. "A warm bath… It's been days…" She lowered her head. "Such nice people."

Suddenly, the door slid open. Mayu looked over, and then averted her eyes. There stood Nyuu, stark naked.

"Nyuu!"

_Lilium_

Yuka slid the dining room door shut. "Nyuu looked like she needed a bath, so I sent her in, too."

"Won't that bother Mayu?" Kouta asked.

"Oh, I want to talk to you about Mayu," said Yuka.

_Lilium_

"She was buying bread crusts?" Kouta asked after hearing Yuka's exploits at the bakery.

"Yeah, she gets them every day, and says they're for the dog," Yuka replied. "But I have a very strong suspicion that the bread crusts serve for the both of them."

"I thought there might be something going on," said Kouta, remembering picking up Mayu at the hospital. "You know, she never talks about her friends or her family. Do you think she could be a runaway?"

"If she is…" Yuka mused. "Don't you think we should call the police or something?"

"That would make sense, I guess," said Kouta, half agreeing. "But I'd kind of feel bad about turning her in to the police without finding out the reason for her running away."

"Yeah…" agreed Yuka.

"We've got to be careful," said Kouta. "Because it's not like we can trust the police."

Yuka blinked in confusion.

"You want to know about that night at the beach?" Kouta asked Yuka. "I'll tell you everything."

Kouta recounted to Yuka his entire misadventure at Yuigahama, about coming across Nyuu, and how the soldier had attacked him.

"So that's what happened," said Yuka, once Kouta had finished is tale. "I see. That's why you're always so worried about Nyuu."

"I didn't want you to worry about what happened to me the other night at the beach," Kouta explained. "I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," Yuka apologized.

Kouta smiled. It seemed that, however small, he had finally reached an understanding with his cousin. Yuka smiled back at him.

Just as the mood was reaching its peak, however, the doors slid apart, and there was Nyuu, naked, soaked, and covered with soap. "Nyuu!"

Kouta and Yuka quickly turned to witness this increasingly common spectacle.

_Lilium_

"Let's go rinse the soap off, and get a towel to dry with," said Yuka and she guided Nyuu down the hall. "You go Kouta all worked up again, Nyuu!"

"Uh, hey, I'm sorry," said Mayu, poking her head out of the bathroom and covering herself with a towel. "She just ran away all of a sudden."

"Mayu?" Yuka began.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Why don't you spend the night here?"

"What?" asked Mayu, taken aback. "That's nice, but I don't want to put you guys out."

"Don't worry about it," Yuka assured her. "If there's one thing we have a ton of, it's rooms!"

"Well…" Mayu thought it over for a moment. "Sure."

_Lilium_

Kouta sprawled across the dining room table, face down. "Can this get any more complicated?" he sighed.

_Lilium_

"I suppose it's better than returning with a corpse," said Director Kakuzawa upon hearing Chief Kurama's report. They were in an almost cathedral-like office that was set aside for when the Director visited the facility.

"I'm sorry, sir," Kurama apologized.

"It saddens me," the Director continued. "She was intended to be the Eve to a new human race, and yet…" The Director trailed off. "Please exterminate Number Seven," the Director said bluntly.

Kurama started in surprise.

Useless Diclonius are nothing more than a dangerous and expensive liability," the Director explained. "You've dispatched with scores of carriers, Kurama. I don't expect you to show mercy to this one."

Kurama bowed, then turned around and walked out of the office.

As Kurama was leaving, there was a page to the Director's desk. The Director pushed a button. "_You have a call from Professor Kakuzawa_." His secretary said over the line.

"I'll take it," said the Director.

'_My stupid son, calling for more money, I imagine,' _the Director thought.

_Lilium_

"I'm hoping for a small increase for my research budget," said Professor Kakuzawa, son of Director Kakuzawa.

"I know, I know!" he laughed to his father's seething response over the phone. "But this time I am really close, I mean closer than ever! We're not far away from being able to run a full fledges clinical trial. Oh, by the way: Whatever happened to the escaped Diclonius? I see. Sounds like I'm not the only one who can't make a deadline. Alright then, I'm looking forward to your assistance." The Professor hung up the phone.

"How did it go with the budget increase?" asked his assistant, Arakawa, from across their small lab in a Kamakura university.

"Well, we got a little more," Kakuzawa replied.

"We're almost finished with the vaccine," said Arakawa. "Even if they don't double the budget, any increase will help."

"Well there isn't any rush, of course," Kakuzawa assured her.

"But this is the only protection we humans have from the Diclonius," said Arakawa, standing up from her computer monitor. "If the escaped specimen is still out on the loose, it's our duty to rush." She removed her lab coat. "It might help them capture her."

"I'm not sure I'm ready to make life that easy for my father just yet," the Professor muttered.

"What'd you just say?" Arakawa asked.

"Huh? Uh, good night!" the Professor said quickly.

"Good night, Professor," Arakawa yawned, and exited the lab.

"They still haven't found her yet, huh?" the Professor muttered once Arakawa had left. "That's wonderful news."

He took a letter opener to a photograph of Lucy from the missing persons report.

"Where are you, Lucy?" He sliced the picture in half. "You're mine! It's just a matter of time."

_Lilium_

"This will help her sleep," said Shirakawa, filling a syringe with a yellowish liquid. "She won't feel anything. It's the least I could do."

"Shirakawa," said Kurama.

"Yes?"

"I'll do it."

"I understand."

_Lilium_

Kurama stood over Nana's limbless body. She was covered in bandages, but the collar of her dress still poked out, and Kurama's tie was still around her horns. He placed his hand on her sheek. Nana's eyes slowly opened.

"Papa…"

"We have to run more tests," Kurama lied to her. "And it may hurt a little. Be brave." He raised the syringe.

Nana stared at it for a moment, the looked back at Kurama. "Sure," she said. "I'll be brave."

Kurama injected the fluid into her. Behind the glass, Shirakawa looked away, unable to watch.

Nana's eyelids began to droop. Kurama clenched his teeth, disgusted with the Director, and with himself**.**

"I'm getting so sleepy," said Nana slowly. "Papa?"

"What is it?"

"Goodbye, Papa."

Nana's eyes closed, and her head lolled to the side. Tears streamed across her face.

Behind the glass, Shirakawa ran out of the room, unable to contain herself.

"I'm sorry," said Kurama, and bowed his head over Nana's still body.

**APPROXIMATELY ONE MONTH LATER**

**That's right, I still exist! I was just procrastinating because I got bored about halfway through! Well, that, and I got caught up in watching **_**Cowboy Bebop**_**, **_**Outlaw Star**_**, **_**Gunslinger Girl**_**, **_**OreShura**_**, **_**Vividred Operation**_**, **_**Maoyu**_**, **_**Kotoura-san**_**, **_**The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya**_**, and Lord knows what else. Oh, and I finished reading most of the **_**Sword Art Online **_**light novels.**

**Now without further ado: ****mastesargent's Overly Long an Probably Irritating Tale as to why He's Writing this Fic and Do You Guys Even Care Well too Bad 'Cause I Do****-****Part 3**

**With a severe case of SAID, I found myself****watching **_**Elfen Lied**_** again. Of course, this time I did it in one night. However, this time I found myself jumping into the unknown. I watched the anime known only as… **_**Speed Grapher**_**. Oh, dear Lord, thank you! This was the answer to all of my anime induced mental trauma. Why? Because it kicks ass, that's why! Words can't really describe. If you're bored, watch it. It's on Netflix.**

**Now, I'm gonna take my one review here and cry in a corner.**

**(C'mon, guys, help me out! I need reviews!)**


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